
Class 






— _ 



Book 






Copyright^ . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



SYSTEMATIC 
MORAL EDUCATION 



WITH DAILY LESSONS IN ETHICS 



BY 
JOHN KING CLARK 



THE A. S. BARNES CO. 

NEW YORK 

1910 



V* 



«& 



Copyright, 1910 
By The A. S. Barnes Company 



A27390I 



De&fcatfon 

TO THE MANY PUPILS WHO HAVE TAUGHT ME TENFOLD AS 
MUCH OF THE VALUE AND BEAUTY OF CHARACTER AS I HAVE 
TAUGHT THEM, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 



PREFACE 

There appears on all sides a demand for more explicit 
moral education in the elementary schools. As yet, how- 
ever, there is no unanimity concerning the subjects to be 
taught, or the method to be employed. This book is an 
attempt to solve the problem in a definite and practical 
way. 

Part I outlines briefly the science and art of giving 
ethical instruction and moral training, with a descrip- 
tion of practical work in ethical culture. Part II con- 
sists of a series of lessons on ethical topics that concern 
the every-day life of the child: it is written expressly 
for his comprehension and from his point of view. The 
two parts together constitute a work on the theory and 
the practice of ethics. 

Many have been the faithful but little-known teachers 
who, from time immemorial, have left their impress, both 
by precept and by example, upon the characters of their 
pupils. Moral education is therefore no new thing. As 
here outlined, however, it is systematized into a plan, 
and made direct and definite. 

Suggestions for this work have been gathered from 
many sources; and materials furnished by others have 
been selected and utilized. I desire to acknowledge with 
gratitude my indebtedness to all from whom such aid 
has come. To none, perhaps, am I more deeply indebted 
than to my immediate associates in the work of teach- 



PREFACE 

ing. They have contributed many of the syllabi in Part 
II; they have labored loyally to present the lessons in- 
telligently and to put into practice the work outlined, 
thus proving by experiment the worth of the system. 

The honest, enthusiastic teacher, a lover of his kind 
and of his profession, will gladly welcome help and seek 
light, from whatever source they may come. I trust that 
the light thrown upon my subject by this work, whether 
it be direct or reflected, will help to illumine the pathway 
of those teachers whose aim is the development of char- 
acter. 



CONTENTS 



PAET I 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Demand for Moral Education by the School 1 

II. Direct and Indirect Moral Teaching ... 8 

III. Morality and Its Sanction 11 

IV. Character ; the Subconscious Mind ; and the Power 

op Thought 16 

V. The Child: His Limitations and His Possibilities . 21 

VI. The Teacher: His Training and His Personality . 26 

VII. Moral Training and School Incentives ... 32 

VIII. Subjects for Daily Lessons . . . . .35 

IX. Method op Presentation and Drill .... 39 

X. Moral Growth through Practice .... 44 

XI. Moral Growth through Pupil Government . . 52 

XII. Moral Training through Assembly Exercises . 58 

XIII. Auxiliary Means in Indirect Training ... 63 

XIV. Results op Moral Training 69 

Bibliography . . . , . . . .72 



I. Morals: Topics and Outlines 

1. Obedience 

2. Real Self 

3. Self-control 

4. Service . 
6. Helpfulness 

6. Kindness 

7. Goodwill 

8. Confidence 

9. Gratitude 
10. Charity 



PART II 




rLINE 

77 


3 . 
11. 


Home; Parents 


83 


12. 


Respect 


88 


13. 


Cleanliness . 


91 


14. 


Amiability . 


95 


15. 


Cheerfulness 


98 


16. 


Courtesy 


101 


17. 


Companions . 


107 


18. 


Friendship . 


110 


19. 


Honor . 


111 


20. 


Pair Play . 



77 
115 
116 
120 
123 
127 
128 
130 
132 
133 
139 



VI 







CONTENTS 


21. 


Courage. 


. 140 


27. Temperance 


22. 


Work . 


. 143 


28. Patriotism 


23. 


Business 


. 147 


29. Play . 


24. 


Punctuality 


. 149 


30. Thoughts 


25. 


Thrift . 


. 151 


31. Habits . 


26. 


Perseverance 


. 153 


32. Character 



PAGE 

155 
156 
158 
160 
162 
164 



II. Manners : Topics and Outlines 

1. General . . .167 4. At School 

2. At Home . . 168 5. At Church . 

3. At Table . . 169 6. In Conversation 

III. Quotations ; Maxims ; Proverbs 



1. 


Obedience 


173 


12. 


Honor . 


2. 


Real Self 


174 


13. 


Courage 


3. 


Self-control 


176 


14. 


Work . 


4. 


Service . 


177 


15. 


Punctuality . 


5. 


Helpfulness . 


179 


16. 


Perseverance 


6. 


Kindness 


180 


17. 


Temperance . 


7. 


Good Will 


181 


18. 


Patriotism . 


8. 


Charity . 


182 


19. 


Thoughts 


9. 


Home and Parents . 


183 


20. 


Character . 


10. 


Cleanliness 


184 


21. 


Manners 


11. 


Amiability 


186 







IV. Selections from the Bible 
V. Hymns and Songs 



137 
169 
170 
171 

173 

186 
189 
191 
194 
196 
198 
199 
202 
203 
208 

210 
213 



PART I 



SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 



CHAPTER I 

THE DEMAND FOR MORAL EDUCATION BY 
THE SCHOOL 

"The question of moral education is the heart of the 
modern educational problem.' ' This is the declaration 
of a committee appointed at a "World's Conference on 
Moral Education, held in London in September, 1908, 
and consisting, among others, of the Hon. James Bryce, 
W. F. Stead, the Bishop of Ripon, Canon Bell, Presi- 
dent John H. Finley, the late Richard Watson Gilder, 
President William H. Taft, and President Nicholas Mur- 
ray Butler. 

What causes this demand for a stronger emphasis on 
moral education? Are our educational ideals changing? 
History shows that nations have made their education a 
training for the attainment of the things they value 
most. As power, learning, piety, skill, and wealth be- 
came in turn the object of desire, so the means of secur- 
ing them became the subject of study. Athens, valuing 
beauty, symmetry, and harmony, both physical and in- 
tellectual, sought through her great teachers to cultivate 
a love of the true, the beautiful, the good. Rome, ex- 
alting law, authority, and conquest, instructed her youth 

1 



2 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

in oratory, so that they might advocate the claims of 
law; and skilled them in war, so that they might 
plant the Roman eagles in the uttermost parts of the 
earth. The education of monasticism was other-worldly, 
because the gaze of its votaries was fixed upon the here- 
after. Training in arms, loyal and gallant service to 
the king, and devotion to whatever was noble, brave, 
and courteous, comprised the education of chivalry, be- 
cause these were the highest ideals of that age. 

The history of our own country, after the first strug- 
gle for liberty, shows an eager desire for material suc- 
cess. "We established scientific schools, agricultural col- 
leges, and commercial courses. Money was the treasure 
upon which the nineteenth century set its heart ; and the 
surest means of obtaining that treasure became the ob- 
ject of close study and practice. That our education in 
this field was thorough and effective, is proved by the 
prosperity of the times. 

But material success does not necessarily bring a cor- 
responding advance in the higher achievements of life. 
Too often, wealth and luxury weaken the moral fiber of 
a people, and lower the standard of right living. An- 
cient Rome experienced this to her sorrow. In this coun- 
try, our self-satisfied equanimity has been disturbed by 
recent events in the commercial world. We are begin- 
ning to ask whether, in our mad scramble for wealth, we 
have not missed something. Is an education for ma- 
terial success, or even for intellectual culture, adequate 
to the highest needs of a people? Will it bring satis- 
faction and happiness to them that seek it? 

Engrossed by the pursuit of wealth, and madly stren- 
uous in enjoying it, we Americans, suddenly grown rich, 



DEMAND FOR MORAL EDUCATION 3 

find little time or desire for the pursuit of nobler aims. 
Our churches are poorly attended; and religious and 
moral instruction is neglected in the home. Our people 
are seized with an inertia, caused partly by skepticism, 
and partly by reaction from Puritanical or priestly 
domination. Our ideals are sinking in consequence. 
Moreover, the changing character of our population, due 
to the heavy immigration from Southern Europe and 
Asia, renders the problem of the moral regeneration of 
the people still more complex. This seems a pessimistic 
view of conditions; but let us ask ourselves: Is it not 
true that the virtue of our forefathers is no longer held 
in its former high esteem? 

The fact that we are awakening to a knowledge of 
our moral weakness is a healthful sign. That something 
must be done to improve our condition is evident, if we 
are to continue a great nation. This demand, made by 
thoughtful people, is being met by the educators of the 
country. 

In 1906 the National Educational Association ap- 
pointed a committee to report on the best plan of teach- 
ing ethics in the elementary schools. In 1908, the same 
association put itself on record as approving "the in- 
creasing appreciation among educators of the fact, that 
the building of character is the real aim of the schools, 
and the ultimate reason for the expenditure of millions 
for their maintenance. There are in the minds of the 
children and youth of to-day, a tendency toward a dis- 
regard for constituted authority, a lack of respect for 
age and superior wisdom, a weak appreciation of the 
demands of duty, a disposition to follow pleasure and in- 
terest, rather than obligation and order. This condi- 



4 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

tion demands the attention and action of our leaders of 
opinion, and places important obligations upon school 
boards, superintendents, and teachers. " An association 
of principals in New York City has taken action "to the 
end that some plan may be devised for teaching morals 
in the schools.' ' The Brooklyn Teachers' Association, 
through a committee, intends to study the problem. It 
is their purpose to enlist the co-operation of clergymen, 
physicians, and other professional and philanthropic 
men and women in the work. 

The demand for moral education is not confined to our 
own country. England requires moral instruction in 
her national and church schools, on the plea that it is 
necessary in order that "she may maintain her commer- 
cial supremacy." In its 1908 code of regulations for 
public elementary schools, the Board of Education 
states: "Moral instruction should form an important 
part of the curriculum of every elementary school. 
Such instruction may either be incidental, occasional, 
and given as fitting opportunity arises in the ordinary 
routine of lessons, or be given systematically and as a 
course of graduated instruction. The instruction should 
be specially directed to the inculcation of courage, truth- 
fulness, cleanliness of mind, body, and speech, the love 
of fair play, consideration and respect for others, gen- 
tleness to the weak, kindness to animals, self-control and 
temperance, self-denial, love of one's country, and ap- 
preciation of beauty in nature and in art. The teach- 
ing should be brought home to the children by reference 
to their actual surroundings in town or country, and 
should be illustrated as vividly as possible by stories, 
poems, quotations, proverbs, and examples drawn from 



DEMAND FOR MORAL EDUCATION 5 

history and biography. The object of such instruction 
being the formation of character and habits of life and 
thought, an appeal should be made to the feelings and 
the personalities of the children. Unless the natural, 
moral responsiveness of the child is stirred, no moral in- 
struction is likely to be fruitful. ' ' 

Emperor William of Germany appeals to his people 
for moral instruction in the schools "for the sake of the 
Fatherland.' ' France, realizing that the safety of the 
state and the preservation of the home are in peril, has 
gone farther than any other nation in moral education. 
Through her department of education, she has devised 
an elaborately graded course, and daily syllabi on se- 
lected morals topics. 

While municipalities, states, and nations are thus try- 
ing to meet and solve the problem, purely for self- 
preservation or for economic ends, much literature on 
the subject has been put forth. The trend of public sen- 
timent, therefore, seems also to be in the direction of im- 
proved moral education. 

With the changing ideals of the twentieth century has 
come a corresponding change in its educational creed. 
Our country, now having attained material prosperity 
and territorial expansion, recognized now as a leader 
among the nations in science, commerce, manufacture, 
and even in the means of education — having, in short, 
realized her former ideals, our country must inevitably 
seek higher ones ; and, passing from material and intellec- 
tual spheres, must step into the moral realm for more 
worlds to conquer. 

The twentieth century seems likely to be an epoch- 
making one in the educational world. There is unrest, 



6 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

dissatisfaction, over the present school training. We are 
reaching out for better things; and what is of greater 
value than the moral enlightenment of the youth of the 
land? 

Granted the necessity of greater attention to moral 
education, the question arises: By whom or by what 
agency should it be conveyed ? 

Many maintain that it is not the business of the schools 
to give moral instruction. This, they say, is the func- 
tion of the home, or of the church and Sunday-school. 
There is no question as to the value of home training, 
provided the home is an ideal one, and provided the 
parents not only feel their obligation to give such train- 
ing, but are able and willing, because of their own views 
of life and manner of living, to discharge it. 

But this century witnesses a standard of living and 
conditions very different from those of the last. A 
hundred years ago, only five per cent, of the population 
lived in cities. According to the last census, over fifty 
per cent, live city lives or are under city influences. 
"With this removal to the cities come increased tempta- 
tions and allurements from the old-fashioned path of vir- 
tue. Family life loses its unity and power. In the 
mad rush of city existence, family interests are divided 
or lost. Electricity, automobiles, air ships, and light- 
ning transit destroy the opportunity for reflection, and 
for the cultivation of the finer as well as the nobler 
sentiments. The effect of all this is not only pernicious 
to children, but even more disastrous to those who are 
supposed to lead these children in the way they 
should go. 

Too often, life in the city means life in the street. 



DEMAND FOR MORAL EDUCATION 7 

With children, this is true almost of necessity : crowded 
apartments and lack of play space compel them to seek 
recreation out of doors. Parents also find home somehow 
not "the dearest spot on earth"; and many families 
scarcely ever meet except at meals. All this results 
either in no opportunity or in no desire for instruction 
in the things that make for right living. In short, the 
home should not, perhaps cannot, be depended on for the 
training that it once gave. 

In the churches, probably the best work is of a nega- 
tive character. By providing gymnasiums, clubs, and 
the other features of the modern institutional church, 
they attract children and youth from objectionable re- 
sorts. The Sunday-school does an important work; but 
it cannot be expected to accomplish in one hour a week, 
even under ideal conditions and instruction, all that is 
to be desired. Its best work, also, is probably indirect. 
In short, though there is not the least question of the 
sincerity and effectiveness of the church and the Sunday- 
school, it is indisputable that they cannot and do not 
supply the neglect of the home. 

To provide definite, adequate instruction in right liv- 
ing; to afford inspiration and impulse to choose the 
right; and so to strengthen will-power, and give oppor- 
tunity for the execution of right desires — these are pre- 
eminently functions of the schools. In fact, these should 
be regarded as their very raison d'etre. To neglect the 
instruction of the child in the principles and laws of 
right living is to deprive him of nis best and highest 
birthright. 



CHAPTER II 
DIRECT AND INDIRECT MORAL TEACHING 

Assuming that the schools should undertake the work 
of moral education, we find two methods of giving the 
necessary instruction: the indirect method, and the di- 
rect method. The former is advocated by much the 
larger body of educators. But an increasing number are 
beginning to see that, if we want definite results, we 
must have direct and purposeful teaching. 

We must differentiate the two terms, moral training 
and ethical instruction. The former has a much larger 
content, and indicates development through association, 
example, observation and practice. Those who declare 
for indirect teaching confine themselves to these means, 
and avoid what they call moralizing or preaching. In 
distinction from this, ethical instruction means system- 
atic teaching of moral lessons, and the pursuit of some 
prescribed course on selected moral topics. 

What is known as incidental ethical teaching is that 
which is given as occasion arises. Some happening of 
the day is used to afford material for a lesson in ethics, 
as are also the subjects of history and literature. This 
is not ethical instruction in the sense in which that term 
is here used. 

Of the value of indirect or suggestive teaching there 
can be no question. But more than this sort of teach- 

8 



MORAL TEACHING 9 

ing is necessary. The child is supposed, of course, to 
grasp intuitively the lessons to be conveyed. As a mat- 
ter of fact, however, many children are not quick enough 
to catch the thought suggested. And the failure is not 
due to obtuseness alone. Frequently the pupil lacks the 
mental content or capital from which such lessons may 
be drawn. He represents a case, not of immorality, but 
of unmorality. His moral insensibility is the result of 
lack of cultivation and his moral nature merely needs 
development. He must be cured of "moral blindness. ' ' 
This is the work that ethical instruction, by giving him 
the fundamentals of morality, must accomplish. It is to 
be feared, moreover, that those who would "point a 
moral' ' as occasion arises often forget to do so. The 
great objection to such a haphazard manner of instruc- 
tion is that this teaching, like everything else done with- 
out method or aim, would be slighted. Hence the wis- 
dom of having stated periods for lessons, and some log- 
ical order of presentation. This can only be provided for 
by systematic teaching. 

It has frequently been stated that the child dislikes di- 
rect moralizing, and that as a consequence the aim of the 
moralizing is never reached. This argument has been 
met by Edward Howard Griggs, 1 who says: "Children 
love directness, and object to beating around the bush. 
Indeed, next to insincere moralizing, grown people and 
children alike resent most of all being bribed into listen- 
ing to ethical instruction in the guise of something else. 
Since ethical problems are more deeply interesting than 
any other, the ethical element can stand alone, and does 
not need adventitious adornment. " President G. Stan- 

i Moral Education, p. 218. 



10 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

ley Hall states that, especially at the age of puberty, the 
child should be treated as a moral being, capable of be- 
ing ethically instructed and trained. 

If rightly presented, ethical instruction is in reality 
far from distasteful to children. Of course, if it is 
forced upon them in and out of season, in a dismal, for- 
bidding, or authoritative manner; and if the teacher 
dwells upon the awful consequences of violating the 
moral code, children cannot be expected to like the in- 
struction or receive any benefit from it. On the other 
hand, lead them, in a tactful, sympathetic, wholesome 
way to see the "sweet reasonableness" of the moral or- 
der; present to them the positive, constructive value of 
right living; and you can interest them as deeply in 
this subject as in any other. 



CHAPTER III 
MORALITY AND ITS SANCTION 

How far morality can be taught without the sanction 
of religion is still an open question. President S. Stan- 
ley Hall says : "So closely bound together are moral 
and religious training that a discussion of the one with- 
out the other would be incomplete. ' ' To be sure, we 
have always been so fearful of violating the idea of the 
separation of church and state that we have hardly 
dared urge the necessity of moral teaching in our 
schools, lest we seem to antagonize that time-honored sen- 
timent. But we can avoid hurting religious sensibilities 
by assuming no more than that a wise, beneficent, all- 
powerful Being is directing us toward "that far-off di- 
vine event to which the whole creation tends.' ' 

Those who steer clear of all theistic implications in 
moral training ascribe prudential reasons both for the 
individual and for society. It is true that such subjects 
as Cleanliness, Obedience, Industry, and Self-control 
may appeal to the selfish, personal welfare of the child ; 
and they are also closely bound up with the welfare of 
society as a whole. Even in themes of larger relation, 
like Honesty, Courtesy, and Generosity, motives of social 
ethics may be employed. But here is the difficulty: if 
the race, with all its enlightenment, has been so slow in 
learning the lesson that "man does not live to himself 

11 



12 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

alone," and that "all are parts of one stupendous 
whole," how can we expect children, whose civic ideals 
are necessarily limited, to be influenced by such ap- 
peals? 

"When a command is presented to children, their imme- 
diate question is, "Why should I?" The first answer 
must be that of someone 's authority ; it should be followed 
later by an appeal to reason, founded upon a moral code. 
But just here we face the question of the authorship of 
that code. As yet, materialistic science has given no 
certain answer. Sir Oliver Lodge, one of the foremost 
scientists of the age, implies in his "Substance of Faith" 
that the aim of moral progress is "man's development 
into conformity with the will of God." It is almost im- 
possible to eliminate the religious sanction of morality 
in dealing with children. They have a strong, deep re- 
ligious instinct which easily responds to appeal. 
"Man," says Sabbatier, "is incurably religious." 
"William James states that in all races and ages there has 
been and is an irrepressible and unquenchable religious 
sense that seeks, by sacrifice, petition, or aspiration, to 
satisfy the demands of a higher Infinite Being. 

These spiritual demands have in the past, it is true, 
been made the subject of controversy, persecution, and 
proselytizing. Shall we therefore ignore them? What 
we must rather do is to break away from the obstructing 
traditions of the past, and try, as Dewey says, to reach 
"that type of religion which will be the fine flower of 
the modern spirit's achievement." With this broad re- 
ligious sanction, the most effective moral teaching must 
result. 

Looking to the practice of other countries, we find the 



MORALITY AND ITS SANCTION 13 

English schoolmasters among those who maintain that 
morality and religion cannot be divorced in the teach- 
ing. They make the Bible their moral text-book, and 
give lessons from the Church of England catechism. 
The close union of church and state has caused this ; and 
we must not be too severe in our judgment of this prac- 
tice, fostered by generations of God-fearing people. 
France has gone to the other extreme : a complete scheme 
of ethical instruction is prescribed, on the authority of 
of the goddess of ' ' Eeason. ' ' In like manner, Japan en- 
tirely ignores its national religion in a system of moral 
instruction introduced in 1890 into the state schools; 
and the sanction substituted for religion is, reverence 
for the person of the Mikado. A Japanese baron says 
that the endurance, courage, and self-control shown by 
the soldiers in the Russo-Japanese War were the result 
of this ethical instruction. 

In our own country, the problem is complicated by 
the cosmopolitan character of the population and the 
consequent variety of religious creeds. Recently, in 
New York City, a petition was presented to the Board 
of Education for such instruction in the public schools 
as would remove cause for the imputation that we are 
bringing up a race of sturdy but lawless children, by 
our total lack of moral teaching. A committee of clergy- 
men, representing the different denominations, was ap- 
pointed, and held several meetings. They entirely 
failed, however, to agree on what should constitute the 
cardinal points in the scheme to be presented. 

But in this practical work of moral education, the 
careful, tolerant teacher need not wait for a common 
basis of religious teaching. It is enough if he refers to 



14 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

the Deity merely as a wise, loving, ever-present Father, 
a power "in whom we live, and move, and have our be- 
ing." 

There is but one other assumption to be employed; 
namely, the origin and destiny of what I have called the 
real-self. By this we mean the higher self, the inscru- 
table ego, the soul, "that which" as Augustine has said, 
"will not find rest until it finds rest in God." Call it 
what you will, something in man differentiates him from 
the brute. To lead the child away from the bondage of 
his lower self, we must constantly impress him with the 
fact that it is this soul, with its almost infinite capacity 
for enlargement, that concerns him most vitally. God 
and the soul — surely the number of persons is negligibly 
small who would object to the employment of these con- 
cepts, shorn of all theological implications that might fet- 
ter the mind of the child. 

It is, of course, possible to appeal to the personal or 
social sanction of morality: and this appeal is better 
than none at all. But such an appeal lacks inspiration. 
If we wish to touch the innermost chord of the child's 
being, that spiritual chord which is most responsive at 
the ages of puberty and adolescence, we should not hesi- 
tate to speak reverently and strongly of at least two of 
the great verities, God and the soul. To give religious 
sanction to our moral teaching does not necessarily imply 
that we shall cite divine authority for all our moral acts. 
Still less desirable is any instruction about God and the 
soul that might seek to be dogmatic. 

A mother does not stop to explain her authority when 
she asks a child to obey her. If the habit of cheerful, 
willing, and prompt obedience has been cultivated from 



MORALITY AND ITS SANCTION 15 

the first, lier authority is never questioned. So our ethi- 
cal instruction should unconsciously, indirectly point to 
some divinity back of all the higher moral demands. 
Better still, let reverence for things divine be more a 
matter of feeling than of teaching ; lest, by too frequent 
mention, the divine idea lose some of its sanctity and 
force. Scarcely any direct reference need be made to 
the Supreme Being, if the teacher is for any reason re- 
luctant about introducing that subject. In the course 
of lessons later outlined, the name of God hardly occurs 
at all. 

And yet, the teaching of morality is by far the more 
effective if it is permeated with a spirit of reverence. 
Personality is the thing that counts; and of this spir- 
ituality is a great element. Similia similibus curantur. 
It takes the spiritual to reach and draw forth the spir- 
itual. If, then, we would make the spiritual nature 
triumph over the animal in the child, we must arouse 
his deeper nature by some subtle power within our- 
selves, — a power which can speak to the child's 
higher nature in a language which he understands, the 
mystic speech of the unseen divinity within the teach- 
er 's own heart. 



CHAPTER IV 

CHARACTER; THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND; THE 
POWER OF THOUGHT 

If our business as teachers is to build character, it is 
necessary for us to know something of its wonderful 
structure, to examine the materials of which it is built, 
to study its method of construction, and then to adopt 
some working plan. Only then may we rear a build- 
ing that will possess strength, symmetry, and beauty, 
and will serve adequately the purpose for which it 
was designed. This work requires a knowledge of 
psychology, philosophy, and ethics. Since this knowl- 
edge is presupposed in a thorough preparation for teach- 
ing, I shall treat the growth and formation of character 
only in the briefest possible manner, and only so far 
as it concerns the subconscious mind and those thoughts 
which largely make the mind whatever it is. 

Character is formed by a series of thoughts and acts 
which, by constant repetition, become habitual, until the 
factor of thought, which at first prompts our every act, 
retires or becomes a silent partner. But should our con- 
duct at any time be at variance with previously adopted 
principles, thought comes forward, and protests its right 
to be heard. This protest we call the voice of conscience. 
Adequately to define conscience, and to trace its origin 
and growth, would involve us in a dispute with the 

16 



CHARACTER 17 

philosophers, who are not themselves agreed upon the 
nature and source of the ultimate imperative. 

Let us, however, venture to state briefly that conscience 
is a habit of thought about conduct. It is a product 
of gradual growth, receiving its first impressions from 
our early instruction. Professor Royce 1 says: "We 
all of us first learned about what we ought to do, what 
our ideal should be, and in general about the moral law, 
through some authority external to our wills. Our 
teachers, our parents, our playmates, society, custom, or, 
perhaps, some church, then taught us about one or an- 
other aspect of right and wrong." In other words, our 
conscience came to us bit by bit through teaching, till 
we formed a habit of right thinking. This is the doc- 
trine of experience, in spite of the doctrine of Spencer 
and his followers as to the prudential origin of con- 
science. 

The word habit carries with it the idea of automatism 
or of unpremeditated act. If, then, we define conscience 
as a habit of thought, how can we explain the paradox 
of a habit of thought which is without thought ; in other 
words, of an unconscious conscience. Some writers, 
among them no less an authority than William James, 
have tried to explain this by maintaining that man pos- 
sesses a dual consciousness. They say that underneath, 
or parallel with, our conscious life is another, subcon- 
scious life. Perhaps this is only a new name for what 
we have always known as memory. But whether we call 
it memory or the subconscious mind, we need to know 
something of its workings. For, reduced to its lowest 

i Philosophy of Loyalty, p. 24. 



18 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

terms, character is only subconscious memory of right 
principles of conduct. In a measure at least, then, we 
shall solve the problem of character building by rearing 
a memory of right conduct, a memory that will respond 
automatically to any question of right and wrong. 

With the aim of applying more directly this principle 
of character building through thought-habit, let us call 
that habit the subconscious mind, and then inquire some- 
what into its nature. 

Every percept, concept, and related thought which 
comes to us goes into what may be called a mental reser- 
voir. Our passing conscious life first falls upon, or 
comes to, the surface ; then it sinks into the lower, or sub- 
conscious, part of the reservoir. And as the surface of 
a deep reservoir is only a small part of the whole, so is 
our conscious life small compared with the subconscious. 
The former is called by James "the stream of conscious- 
ness." But carrying out our own metaphor, we may bet- 
ter call it, the moving, wave-like surface of a reservoir, 
not passing on as a stream to be lost in the great sea of 
oblivion, but sinking below, and being ever replaced by 
a new surface. Into the subconscious mind flow all the 
experiences that impinge upon the mind from without, 
and all the thoughts, feelings, and determinations that 
arise within. All our desires come to the conscious sur- 
face from these depths. Thence also come, when least 
expected, instincts and impulses out of the mysterious 
region of heredity. This subconscious, or subjective, 
mind is constantly reinforced and affected by the con- 
scious, or objective, mind; and it is itself directing and 
affecting the objective mind. "While in a way it consti- 
tutes a distinct entity, like all complex mental activities, 



CHARACTER 19 

yet it is so closely bound up with the objective mind as 
to appear at times merely another phase of the latter. 

A striking characteristic of the subconscious mind is 
that its activities are largely emotional. "Waves of feel- 
ing and impulse come out of it (either unbiddeD or 
called forth only by the remotest suggestion) that too 
often override the bounds of cooler judgment, and spend 
themselves either in generous self-sacrificing deeds, or in 
careless, criminal acts which are later regretted. The 
newly-coined word "brain-storm," behind which so 
many recent crimes have sought refuge, is only another 
term for partly subconscious activity. 

As a result of this spontaneity of action, the sub- 
conscious mind is weak, or wholly lacking, in the vo- 
litional element, if it is uncontrolled. This volitional 
element must be supplied by the higher mental life, the 
judging and willing consciousness; and when the sub- 
conscious mind receives into its depths thoughts and 
experiences that have been the result of choice and voli- 
tion, its own character becomes changed. It is the pos- 
sibility of this change that furnishes the problem set 
for solution in this work. Our task is to mold for the 
better the character of the subjective mind; to build 
up a strong and effective subconscious life; or to recur 
to our former figure, to pour into this reservoir of 
thought-life, purifying streams of impressions, sugges- 
tions, ideas, admirations, and desires — so that whatever 
mental acts of knowing, feeling, or willing may rise to 
the surface, shall be such as will establish and strengthen 
character. 

If we analyze character, we find that thoughts are the 
mental atoms which, passing through the higher proc- 



20 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

esses, largely make up the mature man. ''Sow a 
thought, and reap an act ; sow an act, and reap a habit ; 
sow a habit, and reap a character." If only we can 
direct from infancy the child's thoughts, or, better still, 
supply the very materials for his thinking, we can make 
him almost whatever we wish. 

There are more things in the realm of mind than sci- 
ence has ever dreamed of. The scientific world is now 
only beginning to acknowledge the power of thought. 
Heredity, environment, materialism, and the consequent 
fatalism, have had their day. The scientific world, led 
by Sir Oliver Lodge, has at last been forced to admit 
a higher realm, a world of the mind. In the search for 
truth, the pendulum has swung back from things ma- 
terial to forces spiritual. One of the important results 
of this movement is the growing belief that thought is 
just as real and just as potent as all the mechanical 
forces of heat, electricity, and gravitation. 

When once the consecrated teacher realizes the bound- 
less power of thought, and becomes fired with zeal to 
make the formation of character the supreme aim of 
his teaching, he will bend every energy, and utilize 
every opportunity, to give his pupils character-build- 
ing thoughts. 

In summary, then, we may say that character ex- 
presses itself without premeditation and without count- 
ing the cost. It may be strengthened by temptation re- 
sisted; but once it is established, tempting thoughts are 
not ruling thoughts. A strong soul thinks ever of the 
right. If the teacher, therefore, can fill the child's 
mind, both conscious and subconscious, with none but 
good thoughts, he will have gone far toward laying the 
foundation of a righteous character. 



CHAPTER V 

THE CHILD: HIS LIMITATIONS AND HIS 
POSSIBILITIES 

In moral training even more than in other kinds of 
instruction, it is essential to study the child's nature, 
and to know his limitations and his possibilities. 
Knowledge of this sort ought to bring to the teacher 
infinite charity and patience in his work. 

One of the most valuable lessons to learn is that, 
wherever one goes, children taken as a class are about 
the same. In drawing an average, one finds the same 
variation in temperament, ideals, and will-power. The 
children of well-to-do families may, to be sure, show 
greater outward decorum; but though they lack the 
more vulgar or disagreeable traits, they are often more 
difficult to reach and influence than hardened juvenile 
offenders. Another helpful lesson is to remember that 
these children are "all God's children," and, if sub- 
jected to right influences at the right time, are capable 
of showing the divinity within them. 

If we were to accept the culture-epoch theory of the 
child's nature, assumed by President Hall, we should 
make the child represent the infancy of the race, just 
emerging from the animal stage of growth, and pos- 
sessed of all the savage and cruel tendencies character- 
istic of that period. Our task as teachers would then 
be to suppress these savage instincts, to cultivate the 

21 



22 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

tribal virtues, and to point the child from the darkness 
of savagery to the gradually dawning light of civiliza- 
tion. 

But in these days, who believes that the child is a 
young savage? Our tendency is rather to agree with 
Wordsworth in quite the opposite conception; namely, 
that the child is born into the world fresh from the hand 
of God, and ' ' trailing clouds of glory. ' ' He who adopts 
this exalted view must not forget, however, that these 
''clouds of glory" are likely to be tainted and darkened 
by such earthly blemishes as heredity and environment. 
Extravagant ideas concerning the heavenly nature of 
the child may well be excused in the fond parent or 
the enthusiastic idealist. But the experienced teacher, 
regarding the average child from a common-sense point 
of view, regards him as a combination of good and bad, 
a bundle of righteous and evil impulses. 

In the child of six or eight who has been well trained, 
the good predominates. If on the contrary the child has 
been spoiled by parental indulgence or evil association, 
his character is in many ways discouraging. But in 
time, the evil may be eradicated or be supplanted by 
better tendencies. And in this work of improvement, 
[we must seek not only to destroy the bad, but even more 
to add to, and build upon, the good. 

One favorable condition in our dealing with the child, 
is the plasticity, or to use a more modern word, the sug- 
gestibility, of his nature. At his age, the child is not 
so encrusted with habit as to be entirely impervious to 
good influences. Moreover, the average child would 
somehow rather do right (at least, what he considers 
right) than wrong. Our first concern, therefore, should 



LIMITATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES 23 

be to create in the child new and better ideals; or else 
to energize the good impulses that have been handed 
down to him by a remote ancestry, or brought along ' ' in 
his flight from higher realms of light," and that need 
only the awakening touch of the creative teacher. 

"We must not assume, however, that all we have to 
do is to teach the child what is right, and that then we 
can expect him to do it. In the first place, adults fail 
in this respect. This is the error that Socrates made. 
Knowledge alone brings neither the power, nor yet the 
desire or will, to do right. In the second place, the 
reasoning powers do not develop to any great degree 
before the age of twelve or fourteen. The period be- 
fore puberty is one of drill and habituation, with only 
an occasional gleam of reason. The first lesson of the 
child is to obey because he is required to do so. Rea- 
son, and the law of cause and effect, may be developed 
in his mind only as he grows older. 

In moral education, the teacher must be careful not 
to regard his class or school as a whole. He must think 
of the individual all the time. It is fatal to all good 
teaching to lose sight of the unit in the mass ; but more 
than anywhere else in the endeavor to strengthen and 
perfect the moral nature, is it necessary that the per- 
sonality of each child should come directly under the in- 
fluence of the teacher. 

As has often been said, every child, through the in- 
heritance of the past and the environment of the pres- 
ent, is different from every other child. It is illogical, 
therefore, to expect the same results from every child, 
or to reach every one in the same way. In dealing with 
physical ills, a physician makes a diagnosis of each pa- 



24 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

tient: examines heart, lungs, pulse, respiration, and in- 
quires about the health of the parents. It is even more 
necessary that the teacher should diagnose his pupil's 
moral condition, and know what influences have made 
him in the past, and are making him in the present. 
It is also well in a courteous way, without showing a 
desire to know family affairs, to inquire about the pu- 
pil's parents, brothers, and sisters. Through an ac- 
quaintance with the home life, the teacher may estab- 
lish a friendly footing between himself and his pupil; 
and may be led by this to make allowance for what 
might otherwise seem in the child unpardonable sin. 
As far as possible, also, the teacher should cultivate a 
personal acquaintance with the parents. Some day, 
perhaps, all teachers will be required to call on their 
pupils at least once a term. In New York City to-day, 
the Supervisor of Kindergarten teachers does require 
each teacher to visit the homes of the pupils, and to 
keep a record of the visits that are made. 

In a large school, it gives the teachers a great ad- 
vantage to know each child by name — if possible, by the 
Christian name. The principal of a certain High School 
knew personally nine hundred of his pupils, having be- 
come acquainted with them by arranging the individual 
programs and courses of study. A boy with a proper 
name is very different from boy as a common noun. 
Therefore, to call a boy by his first name is to show a 
deeper personal interest in him, and to appeal to him, not 
as one of many, but as a distinct personality. The good 
shepherd knoweth his sheep, by name. 

Is it too much to ask that the teacher shall come into 
personal touch with each pupil? The answer depends 



LIMITATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES 25 

on the teacher, and his purpose in his work. If he has 
a real desire for the growth of his pupils' better na- 
ture, he will gladly welcome every opportunity to know 
and strengthen it. 

The means of doing this are so numerous that the 
earnest worker will have no difficulty. An English 
clergyman used to write a letter once a year to the 
young parishioners he had confirmed, in order to keep 
in touch with them, and to let them know he had not 
forgotten them. The result of such tender solicitude 
may easily be imagined. 

An American teacher who heard the story decided to 
try the experiment in a modified form. Every year at 
the holiday season he wrote a letter to his pupils on the 
blackboard, endeavoring to say "the kindest thing in the 
kindest way." He asked each pupil to copy the letter 
and send a reply; and he would have been both obtuse 
and hard-hearted not to be benefited and touched by the 
letter and the answers. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE TEACHER: HIS TRAINING AND HIS 
PERSONALITY 

Teachers are frequently unable to talk to their pu- 
pils intelligently or interestingly on ethical subjects — 
much less, to get the pupils to do most of the talking 
themselves. One teacher, a splendid type of the en- 
thusiastic beginner, said to his principal: "I believe 
in moral teaching. But when I get up before my class, 
I find myself dumb." Yet he could awaken enthusiasm 
in history and science. The reason is that he was in- 
terested in those subjects, and possessed a fund of 
information which he desired to impart. It may be in- 
teresting to state that this man developed a deep interest 
in ethical instruction, by study and association with 
teachers who knew how to impart it ; and, in a short time, 
he was able, through his general ability as a teacher, to 
arouse the enthusiasm of his class for moral culture. 

Knowing a thing well enough to teach it, and hav- 
ing only a general knowledge of it, are two very dif- 
ferent things. This is especially true of ethical teach- 
ing. Even to know how much of ethics to teach, and 
what part appeals to children of different ages requires 
careful study; but to present an idea so alluringly, so 
attractively as to kindle thereby an emotion for the 
right, and arouse the will to action, is a task that calls 
for the greatest skill. 

26 



THE TEACHER'S TRAINING 27 

There is, alas, a class of teachers who care nothing 
for the moral development of their pupils. Hard of 
heart, cold by nature, and with no desire to change their 
natures, they view teaching as a matter of business, to 
be performed as quickly and as methodically or me- 
chanically as possible. They are pedagogical misfits; 
and they need conversion before they can ever become 
true teachers. But to the teacher who is convinced of 
the value of ethical training, who has caught the glow 
of enthusiasm that comes from imparting moral truth 
and tone, and who has seen careless, selfish boys grow 
into self-controlled, self-respecting, careful boys— to a 
teacher of this sort, there is the deepest satisfaction in 
training character. 

One of the best things about moral training is that 
it reacts upon the teacher. For, if it is true that the 
best way to learn a thing is to teach it, the consistent 
teacher of ethics will ever be on the alert to mend his 
own moral fences. Moreover, to be true to himself — 
and most teachers desire to be so — he must live up to 
the standard he sets before others. Nobody can talk 
self-control to others without finding himself in better 
control of his own temper; he cannot preach courtesy, 
and be rude; he cannot laud service, and be selfish. 
Children read us quickly; and their judgments are gen- 
erally correct. If they see us trying to grow more pa- 
tient, and more unselfish, and see that we, too, must 
struggle at times to gain self-control, they will be en- 
couraged to greater effort themselves. And so this 
school spirit of hopefulness, helpfulness, and good-will 
descends upon teacher and pupil alike, until the school 



28 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

becomes not only a center of moral growth, but also a 
place of real joy. 

In securing this wished-for result, the general tone 
of the school is of prime importance; and this tone de- 
pends largely upon a strong personality in the princi- 
pal, and devoted co-operation among his teachers. 
Without such esprit de corps, moral training cannot in 
the highest degree be successful; with it, there is 
scarcely any limit to the good that may be accomplished. 
In the interest of maintaining a high tone in the school, 
every act, every word ought to be weighed in relation to 
its ultimate effect upon the character of the children. 
Such care is possible only where the true aim of educa- 
tion is kept constantly in mind. 

An athletic coach keeps continual watch over his men. 
Food, exercise, sleep, liquor, smoking, — in short, what- 
ever prevents, or conduces to, the proficiency desired, 
— he carefully studies, and either prescribes or pro- 
scribes. If a trainer takes all these pains to have his 
charges win in a merely physical contest, certainly 
teachers should do everything in their power to cre- 
ate and preserve a condition that means the moral 
welfare of those whom they are teaching. Sarcasm, 
innuendo, suspicion, threat, and insult should be banished 
from the class-room. Too often has the good work of 
a whole day been nullified by a cross, or ill-advised re- 
mark from a teacher. 

Less and less should the teacher make use of his au- 
thority. Where the air is oppressive with the power 
from without, there can be no moral growth. Said 
Rabbi Wise in a recent address : ' ' The class-room is not 
a petty despotism, but a diminutive republic ; the teacher 



THE TEACHER'S TRAINING 29 

is not to be the repressive tyrant, but the freedom-nur- 
turing leader ; to train self-directed agents, not to make 
soldiers. " The child should breathe the pure air of 
hope, confidence, and love. He should be offered noth- 
ing as food for thought that will not strengthen his moral 
nature. His school-days should be filled with positive, 
constructive, life-sustaining thoughts and suggestions. 

In this connection, let us revert for a moment to the 
doctrine of the subconscious mind and the power of 
thought. The subconscious mind of the class as a whole 
should be one of buoyancy, and receptivity to helpful in- 
fluences. By their inner attitude of mind, principal and 
teachers should arouse in the child only what is best. 
Whether fully conscious and expressed, or only vaguely 
conscious and unuttered, their current of thought should 
be of such character and force as to stimulate the child 
to wholesome ideas and expressions, and to the resolve to 
make these into helpful, character-building acts. 

Just here, the teacher, more than half -persuaded, per- 
haps, that all this is good, may ask how it is to be done. 
"The fountain cannot rise above its source." A current 
of power like that described cannot be sent forth except 
from a powerful dynamo. Here, as previously hinted, 
we pass over into the realm of the spiritual. We come 
to the sacred precinct of the teacher's inner life, into 
which he alone must enter, and which is under his su- 
preme control. If he wishes to make the inner sanctuary 
the source of a great power for good, he must fill it with 
all that is holiest and strongest and best. He must him- 
self draw from higher sources streams of living water 
that may overflow his own heart, and enrich the lives of 
others. All that is noblest in literature, and nature, and 



30 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

religion, he must use. His is the inheritance of the past, 
the rich resources of the present, and the inspiration of 
whatever is outside of time and space. And if he would 
teach another, let him be a learner — willing, eager, and 
humble. 

All this is not the work of a day. It calls for re- 
peated effort and endeavor. But great is the satisfac- 
tion and happiness of one who knows that thereby he 
is increasing power within himself, and causing a like 
power to be developed within the child. 

Teaching is not a trade, as some render it by dry, 
mechanical routine, nor a business, although others may 
conduct it on generally accepted business lines for profit 
and success; nor yet only a profession, to be pursued 
according to well-known psychological and pedagogical 
rules: but it is a life and a giving of life, in thought, 
word, and deed. This is intelligible to the real teacher; 
to others it must seem a Utopian dream. Yet the work of 
the great teachers has proved it true. Like real artists 
in every field, they have been conscious of some half-mys- 
terious power in themselves ; and have possessed a knowl- 
edge of strength that was not boastful and was more 
than self-confidence, and that somehow made itself a 
power for good over others. Let the reader think over 
i his own experience, and he will find that the teachers 
■whom he remembers most fondly and vividly, whether 
in the old red schoolhouse or in college halls, are those 
who possessed this strange life-giving power, and gave 
of it freely. 

Personal contact is the only sure way of making this 
power effective. The true teacher will find many chan- 
nels through which it may be conducted. A word of en- 



THE TEACHER'S TRAINING 31 

couragement to this one, a friendly inquiry of another, 
a gentle hand upon a shrinking shoulder, a twinkle of 
the eye, a musically modulated tone of voice, a hearty 
hand-shake of congratulation— these are a few of the 
numberless ways. In a word, the teacher should not be 
as one exercising brief authority, or one for whom "fa- 
miliarity breeds contempt"; but one who, teaching the 
doctrine of brotherhood and service, is himself a big 
brother and a fellow servant to those about him. 



CHAPTER VII 
MORAL TRAINING AND SCHOOL INCENTIVES 

Incentive is very closely related to character. In 
fact, the motive back of every one of our acts is an in- 
dex to our character, if not identical with it. He who 
would perform a deed with none but right motives, must 
possess a strong character. Likewise, character is itself 
strongly affected by motives. The question therefore of 
the proper incentives to be employed in teaching and 
discipline, is a most important question ; for it bears di- 
rectly upon the problem of character-building. In de- 
ciding this question, the teacher may find guidance in 
the theory that the education of the child should follow 
the lines of development made by the race. Thus, in the 
case of pupils who are undisciplined and incorrigible, 
fear of punishment might be put to some use — though 
even with such children it seems to work badly. Possi- 
bly a competitive system may be of advantage in arous- 
ing interest, for with most children the desire to excel 
is very strong. Careless and indolent pupils may be 
aroused by the bestowal of rewards in the shape of 
marks, and the oifer of prizes. 

But to continue this competitive system is to appeal 
constantly to what is purely selfish in the child. The 
sooner the teacher abandons this course the better. At 
the very earliest possible moment, he should lead his pu- 
pils to love learning for its own sake, or for its value in 

32 



SCHOOL INCENTIVES 33 

making them useful members of society. The first man 
to abolish all marks and percentages in his schools was 
Colonel Parker. To-day the schools that are doing the 
best work are those that do not rely on these false props. 

Under an ideal educational system, marks should never 
be mentioned. Examinations may be given, if desired; 
but the pupil should be told that they are necessary 
merely to give just the knowledge of his abilities re- 
quired to advance him properly. Hence, they should 
come at irregular times, unannounced, sometimes even 
without the pupirs knowing that they are examinations. 
In fact, with a limited number of pupils, under right 
conditions, a teacher should so thoroughly know his pu- 
pils that he would not need formal examinations. As a 
result, there would be spared for teachers much unnec- 
essary work ; and for pupils, much cause for dishonesty, 
discouragement, and sometimes undeserved defeat. 

In New York City, a by-law of the Board of Educa- 
tion compels teachers to furnish a report of pupils ' work 
at least once a month. In one school, however, this re- 
quirement is met by simply informing the pupils that 
the reports are meant for their parents alone, and that 
it is better for them not to know their ratings or dis- 
cuss them with their schoolmates. The report cards 
are sent to the parents in sealed envelopes, and are re- 
turned in the same way. When a report is unfavorable, 
the teacher, in a kind way, informs the pupil of that 
fact, and encourages him to do better work in the fu- 
ture. 

When we have a system that will make promotion 
possible whenever the pupil is fitted for it, either 
through advancement by subject or groups of subjects, 



34 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

or through some plan still to be devised, many evils of 
the present scheme of examination and promotion will 
be eliminated ; and many obstacles that now impede more 
effective moral training will disappear. If moral growth 
then follows moral training as it should, the whole ques- 
tion of incentives will become less and less important. 

Pupils will be treated with the respect they deserve. 
Teachers will deal with them as equals; and the usages 
of polite society will become the practice of the 
school. We learn that Dr. Arnold succeeded so well as 
a teacher because he treated his boys as men. One of 
them said that they never had the heart to deceive the 
good doctor, when he trusted them so thoroughly. No 
doubt their respect and love was increased by his chapel 
talks — his direct instruction in the things that pertain 
to a higher and a better life. It is possible to create a 
mutual understanding between pupils and teachers that 
will render intercourse and instruction so free and joy- 
ous that artificial aids and incentives are superfluous; 
and pupils will work naturally, because they love their 
work, and feel that it brings its own reward. 



CHAPTER VIII 
SUBJECTS FOR DAILY LESSONS 

When, in considering moral education, we come to the 
question of what we should teach, we find our choice re- 
stricted by the child's moral development, and by his 
grasp of the subjects chosen. In meeting this problem, 
we must proceed in a pedagogical manner. The few 
books that have been written for the purposes of ethical 
instruction deal with the subject from the college stand- 
point, and are didactic in method. This sort of scien- 
tific or logical presentation does not appeal to the average 
child. There is, however, a certain order in the de- 
velopment of the child's ethical concepts. For example, 
altruism, as a sociological proposition, is a subject be- 
yond his comprehension ; while kindness is a topic which 
will interest the smallest child. Honesty is a good sub- 
ject for children of a certain age; but to dilate to an 
innocent child of seven or eight on stealing or lying is to 
present these evils prematurely. 

It is interesting to note the singular ideas prevalent 
concerning ethical teaching. Recently, an influential as- 
sociation of teachers in a large city appointed a commit- 
tee to provide some plan for teaching Honesty. Without 
minimizing the importance of honesty, we cannot help 
believing that there are other virtues to be cultivated. 
A much more fruitful subject would be Generosity; not 

35 



36 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

to mention respect, work, or courage. In the English 
system of ethical instruction, it is worth noting that one 
of the most important subjects is Thrift. 

It is not so difficult as might seem to enumerate the vir- 
tues suitable for a course of ethical instruction in ele- 
mentary schools. Many virtues are closely related, and 
by combining these for discussion, the whole number 
may be greatly reduced. Honesty, truthfulness, and 
honor, for example, may all be treated under one head. 
In this way, a course of study may be designed for one 
year 's work that will pretty well cover the whole ground. 

The series of lessons in Part II of this book will be 
found to include nearly all that are within the compre- 
hension of the average elementary school child. The 
treatment is largely suggestive, and may be greatly 
varied at pleasure. In some cases syllabi have been pre- 
pared for primary, intermediate, and advanced grades. 

In the ethical instruction of young children, experience 
has shown that much greater interest is aroused by treat- 
ing topics simply. In these days of advanced pedagogy, 
every primary teacher has been trained in the art of 
story-telling. If teachers will present their topics by 
means of stories, they will be able to make the subjects 
helpful and interesting, and will find them not nearly so 
difficult to treat as many seem to fear. 

It will probably surprise the teacher to discover that, 
after two or three years of moral training, the ethical 
standard of the children is so raised as to require new 
topics and new methods, corresponding with the moral 
development which has taken place. This is especially 
true in communities where the population is not migra- 
tory. On the other hand, where the school population 



SUBJECTS FOR DAILY LESSONS 37 

is constantly changing, it will be necessary practically 
to repeat the same course of instruction every year. 

The order in which the subjects are taken up will be 
determined by individual circumstances. In the system 
outlined in this book, I have found it well to start with 
Obedience, the so-called mother of virtues. But in a 
school where disorder has been the rule, and where the 
surroundings are vicious and the children in the semi- 
barbarous stage of development, it may be well to begin 
with Patriotism, or some other subject that will touch 
with equal force a hidden spring of heroic feeling. Obe- 
dience, however, — not only to those in authority, but also 
to nature's laws, social demands, and conscience, — must 
in the end be the foundation on which all other virtues 
are built. 

In order to "know himself" at least partly, the child 
should be taught as soon as possible something about 
what I have called his "real self." To this end, he 
should be shown clearly how to distinguish both the body 
and the mind, on the one hand, from the ego, the self, 
the "I will," on the other. He must be led to see that 
the former must serve and obey the latter ; that they are 
subject to certain laws; and that they must be brought 
into subjection to the real self. The child may be told 
that body and mind are a house with lower and upper 
stories, in which the tenant or owner, the real self, 
dwells. The teacher's ingenuity will discover some suit- 
able device, like this, or like those indicated in the sylla- 
bus, to make the subject attractive to the child. 

During the month of December, the subject may well 
be Good Will. To show the effect of teaching in this di- 
rection, it may be stated that on one occasion, a mother 



38 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

of one girl asked to have the subject of Good Will con- 
tinued; it had done her daughter so much good. More- 
over, everybody in that school seemed to be filled with a 
spirit of kindness ; and, what was even better, all the pu- 
pils were busy trying to show their good will in a tan- 
gible way by planning gifts and surprises. Upon an- 
other occasion, one class asked their teacher to continue 
the subject of Self-control a month longer, because they 
found themselves stronger and happier through their 
study of it. In that class, discipline became almost au- 
tomatic. Service is a subject that appeals very strongly 
to children. It gives them an avenue for the expression 
of their good desires in actual deeds. 



CHAPTER IX 
METHOD OF PRESENTATION AND DRILL 

" There is no educational subject so much discussed 
as moral training, and yet there is none in which we 
are so uncertain as to methods," says Dr. Martin G. 
Brumbaugh, superintendent of public education in 
Philadelphia. 

The one thing to be kept in mind in any system of 
ethical instruction is the child's power of view. Neg- 
lect to do this is in great measure responsible for the 
general failure to make the study interesting. The 
dreariness of most books on ethical training is due to 
the assumption that the moral world of the child is the 
same as that of the adult. As a matter of fact, the 
child's world, while just as real and serious as that of 
the man, is quite distinct from it, and, except where it 
touches the home and the school, constitutes an entirely 
separate sphere of interests. The child's problems of 
morality are very different from those of the adult. 
What principally concerns the child is his bodily com- 
fort, an opportunity to gratify his play-spirit, and the 
esteem of his play-fellows. Then, also, he lives entirely 
in the present; neither past nor future concerns him. 
He cares not to hear of what experience has taught oth- 
ers ; nor does his own future interest him, if the thought 
of it interferes with his present happiness. L While, of 

39 



40 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

course, we want the child to enlarge his world, and to 
grow beyond his present state, we must beware of try- 
ing to be wiser than nature. Let us not have a hot- 
house growth of morality; nor, what is worse, let us at- 
tempt to put artificial leaves, flowers, and fruits of 
mature ethical development upon the sapling of youth. 

In other words, we should meet the child on his own 
ground. We should appeal to him on the score of his 
own interests, apply our standards of worth to his own 
daily experiences, and, instead of referring to duty in 
the abstract, investigate its application to his direct per- 
sonal life, judgments, desires, and acts. Moreover, in 
planning the full, harmonious, natural development of 
the child's moral nature, we must take up every side of 
his life: his temperament and moods, his interests, his 
love of approbation and desire to excel, his eagerness for 
adventure, his hobbies, his companions, — yes, and that de- 
sire, tucked away somewhere in his complex nature, to 
do what he thinks is right. "We must levy on them all, 
and make each contribute to accomplishing the end de- 
sired. For apart from his immediate interests, the 
child wastes little time in mere speculation. His 
thought-world, so far as thought is an act of reason, de- 
liberation, and judgment, is the world that concerns him 
least. Our whole effort in direct moral teaching must 
be concentrated on the attempt to awaken in him thought 
about the right and wrong of his own every-day ac- 
tions. 

Whatever may be the details of the method we use 
to bring about this desideratum, we must not lose sight 
of the psychological basis of the work, as previously out- 
lined (Chap. V). Our aim should be to stock the sub- 



METHOD OF PRESENTATION 41 

conscious mind with such a rich content of right 
thoughts that, whenever reason arises for good desires 
and good deeds, these thoughts may immediately be 
brought up into conscious memory. In the language of 
the Association School of Psychologists, we must con- 
stantly seek to relate thoughts, and form new associa- 
tion tracts, so that by the law of association or sugges- 
tion, one good thought may lead to another. 

Our method of presentation in ethical training, there- 
fore, is largely one of suggestion and question. It is 
probably needless to say that we should always make use 
of the principle of self-activity in the child's mind. 
Frequent reference to lessons already learned, and the 
repetition of questions on principles previously devel- 
oped, will emphasize and deepen former impressions. 
"Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, 
there a little ' ' is a good rule to keep ever in mind. 
Not that we should force pupils to memorize and repeat 
mechanically the lessons that they have been taught in 
this subject, any more than we do in other subjects. 
But, as with the others, we should continue or review a 
lesson until the child has grasped it, and made it part 
of his store of general knowledge. He is then ready to 
call upon it when he learns other lessons related to it, 
or when he can give it some practical application. 

Always to discourse solemnly upon the beauty of holi- 
ness is to rob holiness of half its beauty. What appeals 
to children — children of larger growth, too — is a higher, 
sympathetic, living presentation of truth. The Great 
Teacher, when he wished to impress some moral lesson, 
or to stir his hearers to greater depths than usual, used 
parables. He told stories, either of persons— the prod- 



42 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

igal son, the poor widow, the wise and the foolish vir- 
gins; or of something in nature — the mustard seed, the 
fowls of the air, the lilies of the field. " Without a 
parable, spake he not unto them." Occasionally, he 
would arouse thought by the use of questions. In no 
department of teaching can the Socratic method be so 
advantageously employed as in ethical work. 

A wise teacher, of course, will employ whatever 
methods are best suited to the age of his pupils, the 
subject in hand, and the attendant circumstances. A 
few suggestions, however, may be helpful. The first 
thing to do is to arouse in the child a receptive attitude, 
and thus to bring about a feeling of cordiality between 
teacher and pupil. This is why public speakers often 
begin their addresses with a story or some kind remark. 

The daily work of the class-room may begin with a 
simple hymn or song — if possible, one that in some way 
bears upon the topic to be discussed. A list of such 
songs will be found later. After the singing, a quota- 
tion or two may be given by the pupils, or the teacher 
may read a short poem or other selection. Then may 
follow simple questions, such as are within the grasp of 
the child, and will call forth his imagination. When 
the questions have led up to the desired point, the prin- 
ciple of the lesson should be drawn from the pupils in 
the form of a brief statement or proverb, or a quota- 
tion. Either at this stage, or immediately before it is 
reached, a tactful teacher may directly, but briefly and 
pleasantly, appeal to the child to choose the better way. 

The final step is to make some written record or sum- 
mary of the lesson. The following plan is recom- 
mended. The monthly topic or motto, done in colored 



METHOD OF PRESENTATION 43 

crayon and large, artistic lettering, should be placed on 
a blackboard in some conspicuous part of the room. 
Substitutes are an embroidered banner, or interchange- 
able letters placed in a frame. Whatever is used, it 
should at once strike the eye of the pupils entering the 
class-room, and should keep the topic constantly in their 
minds. In the Assembly Hall should be suspended a 
large banner with the motto upon it. Between 2 and 4 
p. m. each day, there should be copied on the blackboard, 
under the motto, the topic for the following day. Be- 
fore 9 a. m. the next morning, as soon as the pupils are 
in their seats, they should copy the ethics lesson for the 
day in blank books used for that purpose only, leaving 
spaces for the answers to questions, which may be filled 
in after the talk of the morning. Better still, this an- 
swering of the questions might be made part of the pu- 
pils' home work. This system might lead to a discus- 
sion of the subject of the day with parents and elder 
brothers and sisters. Thus the good seed may be sown 
over a wider field. All answers should be original, and 
should be in the language of the child. Neatness 
should be insisted upon. The book should be signed 
once a week by the teacher, and also by a parent, prefer- 
ably the father. Here again, good seed may be sown. 

The principal, or his assistant, should examine the 
books frequently, and commend good work in the class- 
room. At the end of each month, as a summary of the 
teaching, the pupils should be required to write a story, 
a brief essay, or a letter. This should be a labor of love 
— spontaneous, and free from pedantry. 

The work that has been outlined in this chapter is the 
work of the class-room. The work for the whole school 
is taken up in a later chapter. 



CHAPTER X 
MORAL GROWTH THROUGH PRACTICE 

In addition to direct lessons, we must make every ef- 
fort to utilize other means for indirect moral training. 
First among these is the child's unquenchable desire for 
play. In the healthy child, this must be satisfied, if we 
are to have normal growth; hence the greater attention 
now given in the schools to organized games, as well as 
to free play. Participation in this sort of thing enables 
the teacher to know his children more thoroughly, and 
to appreciate their better qualities. The right kind of 
play, moreover, may be made to cultivate many of the 
finer virtues, such as justice, perseverance, self-control, 
courage to stand defeat, modesty in gaining victory, con- 
sideration for those defeated. 

In the case of children, as in that of adults, we should 
discriminate between wholesome, helpful play, and that 
which is destructive of the better qualities. It is a 
healthful sign of the times that university presidents are 
taking a hand in eliminating whatever is brutalizing in 
the sports of college life. Even in the elementary 
schools the tide is turning; and we find persons admit- 
ting that school teams, interscholastic games, and cham- 
pionships foster a "sporting" tendency, with its attend- 
ant evils of betting, cheating, and low ideas in general. 
If, however, we can teach boys to "play the game 
fairly," and eliminate every objectionable feature, by all 

44 



MORAL GROWTH THROUGH PRACTICE 45 

means let us use this means to strengthen the boys' moral 
natures. The present effort to have athletics make for 
the physical improvement of the individual is far better 
than the old attempt to produce a strong team in the 
school for the purpose of carrying off some coveted 
trophy. 

One of the strongest arguments for the introduction 
into the schools of manual training is its ethical value. 
The making of articles by hand results in habits of pre- 
cision and concentration. To produce a perfect copy 
of some model means an exercise of judgment as to 
exactness, and a discrimination in material things of 
right and wrong, which may be carried over into the 
realm of morality. Too frequently, however, this ethical 
value in manual training is lost sight of by teachers, in 
their effort to produce somethingr for show. If they 
could only be persuaded to keep in mind the one pur- 
pose of education— character-building— they could con- 
tribute greatly to the desired end. Patience, persever- 
ance, thoroughness, and endurance— these sterner virtues 
are all nourished at the breast of sturdy, honest toil ; they 
are all the by-product of work. 

In ethical training as well as in other branches of 
study, it is necessary to secure skill through practice. 
The laboratory has replaced the lecture-hall. "We 
learn by doing." "Educate the child through its self- 
activity." These are the pedagogical principles that 
must also be applied to moral education. The par- 
tial failure of such instruction heretofore has been due 
to lack of sufficient opportunity for practice. It is not 
enough that the ordinary school activities and discipline 
call for the exertion of some of the virtues we try to 



46 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

teach. The psychological principle that impression 
must become expression needs no elucidation. Applied 
to moral education, it means that we must provide prac- 
tice with our preaching, and devise means for our pu- 
pils to do the things we set them thinking about. 

We want our children to know and live good; surely 
we ought to give them a chance to do good. Indeed, 
perhaps the best way to teach them to be good, is to 
give them lessons in doing good. To prate about the 
beauty of self-denial, while gratifying every wish, is to 
render the teaching useless. To teach about generosity, 
is not to teach generosity itself. Practice and preach- 
ing must go hand in hand ; or better still, practice should 
precede preaching. The greater the practice, the less 
need of preaching. Not to be good only, but to be good 
for something should be the aim of any teaching of moral- 
ity. Aristotle says, "We study ethics for the sake of 
practice.' ' Too strong emphasis cannot be laid on this 
practical phase of moral education. 

Our plan for securing this necessary practice is to 
carry on in each class some form of charity work. For 
one thing, "Sunshine Circles " may be formed in affilia- 
tion with the central organization. The purpose of these 
circles is to scatter spiritual sunshine wherever they can 
by good deeds. In a certain school, one of these cir- 
cles makes garments for a day nursery, while another 
collects magazines for an old ladies' home. A circle 
once held a package party, and a whole box was filled 
with good things for an old couple. In this and many 
other ways, young people may be interested in work- 
ing for others. 

Boys of twelve to fourteen usually get interested in 



MORAL GROWTH THROUGH PRACTICE 47 

the crusades, and the doings of King Arthur. Culture- 
epoch theorists say that this stage of development corre- 
sponds with a similar one in the development of the race. 
If so, this spirit of chivalry can be utilized by the 
formation of chapters of Boy Knights of King Ar- 
thur, or of the Round Table. There exists now a cen- 
tral organization at Potsdam, N. Y., the originator of 
which, Mr. Byron L. Forbush, author of "The Boy Prob- 
lem," may be consulted. To adapt the order to public 
school work, some of its religious features will, of course, 
have to be omitted. Instead of going out to fight imag- 
inary enemies, the boys are to show their valor by slay- 
ing the forces of evil, and allying themselves at all times 
with the good, the pure, and the true. They should be 
made familiar, also, with the "Idylls of the King/' and 
with the education of pages, squires, and knights; 
and should in general be interested in the literature 
and history of the age of chivalry. A wise teacher can 
make excellent use of this Round Table order in creating 
right ideals in pupils' minds. 

One or two specific instances of the working out of 
this idea may be interesting. In a certain class, a chap- 
ter of Knights of the Round Table was organized, con- 
sisting at first of a few of the more thoughtful and 
imaginative boys. Later there were two boys admitted 
to the class, who were in the habit of smoking. They 
desired to join the order; but were refused on account 
of this evil habit. At first, they laughed at their re- 
fusal; but when they saw other boys admitted, their 
ridicule changed to regret. Finally one of them said, 
"I can give up smoking. I only did it to please my 
chum." The result was that they both gave up the 



48 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

habit, and became good members of the order. The 
teacher who reported this case said: "Had I read of 
this work, I might perhaps have regarded it favorably, 
but would have passed it by as requiring too much work. 
But I saw it in practice, and was persuaded to try it. 
The effect on my class is beyond belief. Parents have 
noticed a change in their boys, and have written me to 
keep up the good work." Another young man, just be- 
ginning to teach, was persuaded to form a chapter of 
Knights, though he was unfamiliar with the ritual and 
practice of the order, and was afraid it might give him 
trouble. As a matter of fact, through this work he de- 
veloped from a rather weak disciplinarian into one of 
the best of teachers; and he confessed that not only had 
he enjoyed the work, but it had made both himself and 
his boys better. The work of an order such as is de- 
scribed above is not so difficult as it might seem. Meet- 
ings are held once a week or once in two weeks, from 
three to four o'clock. The boys will show themselves 
fertile in resources and plans, and will need only a guid- 
ing hand from the teacher. 

Boys in the seventh and eighth years of school may 
well be engaged in some work for others. The work 
of the children's court furnishes a good hint. Chil- 
dren who are brought before the magistrate are pa- 
roled in charge of volunteer workers banded into a so- 
ciety known as the "Big Brothers." These brothers 
play the part their name indicates. Similarly, in the 
school, troublesome or truant boys may be put in charge 
of older boys, who will take an interest in these smaller 
culprits and see that they are influenced for the better. 
The result is a double good: the small boys admire and 



MORAL GROWTH THROUGH PRACTICE 49 

imitate the older boys, and the Big Brothers themselves 
are benefited by an increased sense of responsibility — 
the first lesson in the doctrine of the brotherhood of 
man. 

In New York City some schools maintain a food and 
clothing closet to supply needy persons. The stock is 
replenished by the children at the celebrations connected 
with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Upon one of these 
occasions a visitor saw the long lines of children march 
up with packages in their arms and deposit them in 
large boxes, until boxes and platform were filled to over- 
flowing; and he exclaimed that such a sight was more 
beautiful, and afforded more pleasure, than the best play 
at a theatre. So great, moreover, was the contagion of 
good-will and giving at this time that the visitors freely 
contributed money for the good work of the children. 

In another school, a teacher called the "chairman of 
good deeds" keeps a record of all cases of destitution 
brought to her notice, investigates them, and assigns 
them to a "Lend-a-Hand Society" in the school. An 
employment bureau would scarcely be regarded as with- 
in the function of a school, but even this has been at- 
tempted successfully. 

In a school located in a poor part of the city, boys 
were asked to save their pennies to buy Christmas gifts 
for their mothers. The teacher offered to act as banker, 
and himself credited a cent on each child's account. 
By selling papers and running errands, the boys slowly 
collected the necessary money. When Christmas came, 
the teacher, a young man, accompanied by a crowd of ill- 
clad boys, was seen entering a department store in search 
of the desired gifts. Some of the letters the boys wrote 



50 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

later describing their efforts to make these purchases, 
and the results they achieved, would have melted the 
hardest hearts. 

In another school, work of a different sort was accom- 
plished. Here the children were from better homes; but 
their parents, though of some means, had little culture. 
The boys and girls of this school were therefore asked to 
give presents of pictures for their homes ; and their elder 
brothers and sisters were drawn into the plan. The oc- 
casion thus became one for cultivating a taste for the 
beautiful in art; old and young shared in the benefit; 
and the effect in the homes was noticeable. On the fol- 
lowing Christmas, a list of books was prepared suitable 
for mothers and fathers, and the pupils were encouraged 
to select their gift-books from this list. It was not a 
list only of classics or standard authors, but included 
whatever is wholesome as well as bright or amusing. 
The fact that Dickens' " Christmas Carol" was a favorite 
is significant. 

In short, there is nothing that will develop character 
better than engaging in social service. And then the 
joy of it! And the increased interest in school life! 
The necessity of discipline vanishes. A new force seems 
to be at work in the school, a new light shines in the 
faces of the children, and gentleness and tenderness steal 
into the words and bearing of the teacher. 

To one who has tried this larger plan of drawing 
out what is best in boys, there is little interest in dis- 
cussions of corporal punishment, and truancy, and the 
problem of suppressing the bad boy. From time to 
time there goes up a wail about the increasing incor- 
rigibility of boys, and the need for more authority, and 



MORAL GROWTH THROUGH PRACTICE 51 

greater latitude in administering punishment. As 
though mere corrective measures could ever reform a 
bad boy! The problem is deeper than that. Its true 
solution is not the suppression of the wrong, but the en- 
couragement of the right. The old school of pedagogue- 
physicians believed in bleeding; the new school of edu- 
cators sees, that, to increase the moral hardihood of the 
race, it is necessary to infuse into the veins of the youth 
the life-blood of high ideals, healthful pursuits, and use- 
ful endeavors. 



CHAPTER XI 

MORAL GROWTH THROUGH PUPIL GOVERN- 
MENT 

There is another medium through which children may- 
be strengthened morally, and which is important and 
distinct enough to deserve special consideration. It is, 
permitting them to take part in the government of the 
school. This system may be more or less elaborate. 
What is called the Gill City system is perhaps too well 
known to need much description. The functions of the 
school government are divided into three : legislative, ex- 
ecutive, and judicial. Where its aim is training for citi- 
zenship, this scheme has considerable value, and un- 
doubtedly gives pupils a good general knowledge of city 
government. 

But in addition to the time and attention needed to 
carry on this work, which after all has to be directed, and 
in large part performed, by the teacher, the average 
child, as a matter of fact, is more or less incapable of 
prescribing laws for others. Children, like such unde- 
veloped races as the Filipinos (to recur to the cul- 
ture-epoch theory), are incapable of full self-govern- 
ment; and the judicial temperament is not sufficiently 
developed in them to permit them to exercise the func- 
tions implied in courts, trials, and judges. 

It is therefore better to limit the official work of self- 
government to executive functions, with a provision for 

52 



PUPIL GOVERNMENT 53 

passing rules and resolutions for the guidance of the 
pupils. Such a resolution might, for example, be one 
to refrain from communication upon entering a class- 
room; or again, might be a plan, adopted after discus- 
sion, that would expedite certain school work. As for 
the correction of wrongdoing, culprits might be made 
to respect public opinion (i.e. that of the school at 
large) by being brought before the governing body of 
the school, and made to see and acknowledge their faults. 
They might then be handed over to the principal or the 
teacher for punishment. Judgment so rendered and so 
carried out will be much more effective than that pro- 
nounced as well as executed by a teacher. But, for both 
the culprits and the jury, the more rarely such judgment 
is passed, the better. 

In the system here outlined, the part of the pupils 
in the self-government is chiefly administrative. The 
duties of the officers are administrative, not judicial, and 
only partly legislative. Acts of a legislative character 
are always subject to the approval of the principal or 
the class-teacher. There is thus afforded an opportunity 
for putting into practice some of the rules of conduct 
taught in the regular course of moral instruction. 

Incidentally, of course, the form of this pupil govern- 
ment, and the manner of selecting officers are intended 
to instruct boys and girls of the three highest grades in 
the duties of citizenship. The method is the following. 

A school constitution is adopted, and submitted to 
each class for approval, very much as the federal con- 
stitution was in 1781. The form of government is mod- 
eled after that of our own country : the school represents 
the nation, and each class represents a state. 



54 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

As provided in the school constitution, two delegates 
are chosen from each of the three highest classes; and 
these six meet in convention on the first Tuesday after the 
first Monday of the term to nominate candidates for 
the presidency of the school. The two pupils receiving 
the most votes in the convention are declared candidates. 
Then follows a spirited campaign of one week : letters of 
acceptance are read, speeches are made in assembly and 
in the school-yard, and votes are canvassed out of school 
hours. All this is done in a dignified manner ; and only 
good is spoken of the candidates. On election day, each 
class votes in its own class-room; the votes are counted, 
and the results, with the ballots, are turned over to a 
committee. This committee declares the candidate who 
has received the greatest number of votes, to be president 
of the school. 

The president is formally inaugurated, delivers his 
speech, and proceeds to name a cabinet. This cabinet 
is composed of: Secretary of State, Secretary of Order 
(Boys' Side), Secretary of Order (Girls' Side), Secre- 
tary of Exterior, Secretary of Interior, Secretary of Li- 
brary and Art, Secretary of Knightly Deeds, Secretary 
of Sunshine Deeds, and Secretary of Athletics. Each 
of these officers performs certain duties to promote the 
general good of the school. 

A governor of each class is elected on the same day 
as the president of the school. He selects a council of 
from five to seven members, each of whom has his special 
duties. The jurisdiction of this council is confined to 
the class-room. 

It should be clearly understood that pupil government 
has been devised, not to add another burden to the work 



PUPIL GOVERNMENT 55 

of the teacher, but to assist him. When entered into in 
the right spirit, it not only proves a great help to the 
teacher, by infusing class spirit and creating a healthful 
public sentiment, but also gives the pupil himself a sense 
of dignity and responsibility which is sure to cultivate 
a growth of the better self. 

Many plans of making use of the system of pupil gov- 
ernment will suggest themselves to the inventive teacher. 
It has been found of great help to have bi-weekly meet- 
ings of the national cabinet and the state councils, for 
the purpose of talking over the general welfare of the 
school. The leaders chosen by the pupils will be found 
able to make many helpful suggestions, and do much 
to assist teachers and principal. Great benefit will be 
derived in the added dignity acquired by officers, the 
spirit of helpfulness engendered, and the general fellow- 
ship created. On this point, the following reports, pub- 
lished in a school magazine, speak for themselves. 

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF ORDER 

Fellow Schoolmates: — 

I am pleased to say that the short talks which our prin- 
cipal has taken the time to give us on Honor, Self-Con- 
trol, etc., have greatly benefited some boys; they now 
take life more seriously than they did, and less as a joke. 

There is no longer any lounging around neighbors' 
doors, the boys being anxious to uphold the good name 
of the school. The boys as a rule are obedient to street, 
yard, and stair aides. 

Keep up the good work, boys ; earn the name for which 
you are striving ; be faithful to duty. 



56 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

I wish to thank my assistants for their earnest service. 
Respectfully, 

Secretary of Order. 

A CLASS GOVERNOR'S REPORT 

Mr. President and Fellow-Citizens: — 

As Governor of 6AB, I submit the following report : 

The Governor and Council have held four regular 
meetings. 

It was necessary to call a special meeting last month 
to investigate the case of a boy who was reported as be- 
ing disorderly during a fire drill. The boy was found 
guilty and a petition was sent to the principal request- 
ing that he be punished. 

Only one other boy has been called before the Gov- 
ernor and Council. He received a lecture which seems 
to have done him much good. 

Some of the rules laid down by the Governor and 
Council are as follows : 

If any one is especially poor in any subject, a member 
of the Council aids that boy. 

If any boy neglects his home-work, he goes off the 
basketball team. 

Each member of the Council has charge of a row of 
boys. 

Two members of the Council examine the home-work 
each morning before 9 A. M., and report those boys who 
do not have their home-work. 

The duties of the Governor are to take the teacher's 
place when she is out of the room, to give advice when 
necessary, and to receive reports from the Council. 



PUPIL GOVERNMENT 57 

(The Governor and Council try to be examples for the 
other boys.) 

The members of the Council are changed each month, 
thus giving a greater number of boys an opportunity to 
act on the Council. 

All the boys of the class try to help the Council as 
much as possible. Our class is a happy one; the boys 
try to do the best they can. 

Respectfully submitted to the President of the School. 

The Governor. 

It is needless to say that such work as is indicated in 
these reports must be guided by the teacher. Without 
watching, he must see everything that goes on ; and while 
letting the officers do all they can, he must keep his 
hands on the reins. But while advising, inspiring, and 
supervising, he will make himself as unobtrusive as pos- 
sible. 



CHAPTER XII 

MORAL TRAINING THROUGH ASSEMBLY EX- 
ERCISES 

The place where the principal of a school can best 
make felt his power for good is the general assembly. 
It is curious to note what constitutes the opening exer- 
cises in many schools. In some, this opening is made 
the occasion of a military drill; in others, a singing les- 
son is given ; in still others, annoncement is made of new 
rules and regulations; and in a few, unfortunately, 
principals use the time to scold and stir up bad feelings 
generally. 

In schools where scholarship is the chief end, and the 
main concern is not with the child but with the subject 
matter and method of teaching, an assistant is often dele- 
gated to open the school; while the principal sits in his 
office planning lessons and examinations. The latter 
may, of course, properly form the principal's work at 
the proper time. Yet it is a shame that he should not 
use the assembly as an opportunity for coming into 
close, forceful relations with his pupils. For he ought 
to be, not only the head of the school, but the heart as 
well. From him should radiate vitality, enthusiasm, 
good-will, and power. And if he is conscious of his 
power (not his authority, mind you), he will use it to 
awaken all that is strongest and noblest in his pupils. 
Not only will he point the way toward the attainment 

58 



ASSEMBLY EXERCISES 59 

of the highest ideals, but he will himself walk as a leader 
therein. 

In the assembly, moreover, the principal has a chance 
to unify his school and create a larger social spirit. In- 
stead of saying a formal " Good-morning ' ' after the chil- 
dren are seated, and receiving an equally cold, mechan- 
ical "Good-morning, Mr. Principal," in reply, let him 
stand near the double line of pupils as it approaches the 
platform, and give a pleasant look to — not at — each 
one. A slight inclination of the head, or a friendly 
glance of recognition will mark an exchange of good 
feeling between principal and pupil. Somehow, that 
one act makes a good beginning for the whole day, and 
establishes a mutual understanding and good feeling. 
After a time, pupils look for the friendly nod, expect it, 
and get good from it — though not one whit more than 
the principal himself. It is much better for a principal 
to delegate to an assistant the perfecting of the march- 
ing and the drill in movement, and to free himself from 
the need of criticising and reprimanding. Important as 
these duties are, the principal should seek better things. 
He must let nothing unfit him for, or hinder him from, 
exercising the best function of his office — that of being 
the leader and guide, and the creator of ideals and as- 
pirations. 

At assembly, it is well for the pupils occasionally to 
stand perfectly quiet for a moment, breathe deeply, and 
think composedly, before sitting down, in order to give 
poise to both body and mind. Once a week there should 
be a flag salute, accompanied by singing of the National 
Hymn. After the pupils are seated, the principal (if 
Bible reading is permitted) should read without com- 



60 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

ment a few carefully-selected verses — a parable, a bit of 
history — relating, if possible, to the topic of the month 
and day. It is a mistake to read the Bible perfunctorily, 
with perhaps never an excursion beyond the Psalms and 
Book of Proverbs. Both the Old and the New Testament 
afford many beautiful lessons, lofty sentiments, and help- 
ful words, exclusive of passages which might arouse sec- 
tarian prejudice. As much care should be taken in se- 
lecting the passages for reading as is taken with the 
other subjects of the day's program. 

If reading of Scripture is prohibited, a selection may 
be taken from one of the standard authors. Was there 
ever a more helpful, inspired sermon than Dickens' 
" Christmas Carol"? There is also many a bit of verse 
of untold ethical value. In case the Lord's Prayer is 
allowed to be said, that may be done by the pupils, 
standing reverently. Then should follow a hymn: 
nothing doleful, threatening, or other-worldly, but some- 
thing helpful, hopeful, uplifting. Examples are "The 
King of Love My Shepherd Is"; "New Every Morning 
is the Love"; "The Lord is My Shepherd." To con- 
sider this earth a Heaven, to enjoy its beauties, and to 
regard its Maker as a Loving Father whom they gladly 
reverence, obey, and love — this is best for children. Of 
course, hymns that might give even the least offence to 
the religious beliefs of any of the pupils should be 
avoided. A number of satisfactory hymns are listed in 
a later chapter. 

After the singing of the hymns, pupils may recite quo- 
tations appropriate to the topic of the month and day. 
Quotations suitable for this purpose are found in Part 
II of this book. For national holidays, patriotic quota- 



ASSEMBLY EXERCISES 61 

tions are good; but to have them every day is tiresome. 
And after all, patriotism is but one of many virtues. 
On the other hand it is interesting and helpful for all 
members of the school to have pupils bring in quotations, 
stories, and poems relating to the topics as they vary 
from day to day. 

Following the reading, or reciting, some bright song 
should be sung. One having an ethical content is, of 
course, preferable ; but one may make use of good school 
and college songs in general, and even of plantation melo- 
dies. A suitable, classical selection simple enough to be 
taught easily, and without losing its cultural value in the 
process, should be chosen above everything else, if it can 
be found. But it should be remembered that this sing- 
ing is done not primarily for cultural purposes, or 
merely to entertain, but to fill the heart with joy, love, 
and aspiration. Its aim is to develop the moral nature 
of the child by appealing to his better self. 

Once a week, the principal should give a ten-minute 
talk. He may make this an appeal for greater effort to- 
ward some particular goal in character-building, or a 
plan for carrying out practically some lesson of helpful- 
ness; or he may tell some interesting story containing 
an ethical lesson, or read some newspaper clipping that 
narrates a deed of heroism or self-denial. A principal' 
who loves his work will find no difficulty in getting ma- 
terial for his talks. Of course, the interest and respon- 
siveness of the pupils will be in direct ratio to the 
earnestness, enthusiasm, and sincerity of the speaker. 
If he be animated with zeal for the growth of the God- 
given principle in each child; if he be possessed of pa- 
tience, tact, and originality, and know the child's na- 



62 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

ture; if he have good presence, musical voice, agreeable 
manners, and a forceful, magnetic personality — then his 
talks will not only give the keenest joy, but will effect in 
the hearts and minds of his children good unbounded. 



CHAPTER XIII 

AUXILIARY MEANS IN INDIRECT TRAINING 

Once a teacher becomes thoroughly inspired with the 
desire to promote the child's spiritual growth as well as 
to develop its intellectual and physical powers, — to train 
the heart, as well as the head and the hand, — innumer- 
able opportunities, as well as ways and means, of doing 
this work indirectly will occur to him. He will find 
" books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and 
good in everything." 

One of the greatest helps is to secure the co-operation 
of parents. This can be accomplished partly through 
parents' meetings, and also, if they are properly man- 
aged, through parents' clubs. But a word of caution is 
necessary in regard to the latter. There is danger of 
these clubs taking the bit into their own mouths, and 
running away with the school. Then they become crit- 
ics, instead of aids, of the school, and seek to direct its 
policy. A discreet, forceful, tactful principal can, how- 
ever, prevent such a result ; and there is no doubt that in 
many cases these associations are helpful. 

The very best opportunity for mutual acquaintance 
and sympathetic co-operation is afforded by an occasional 
meeting of parents, at which a brief program is pre- 
sented by the teachers, and a good speaker provided. 
Such meetings should never be used to complain of pu- 

63 



64 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

pils' faults, or of parents' shortcomings. For the even- 
ing, the parents are guests, it should be remembered; 
and a courteous host will refrain from mentioning any- 
thing disagreeable. 

The best person, perhaps, to address this meeting is 
the principal himself. This will give him an oppor- 
tunity to do a little educating of parents ; and that such 
education is needed has been well demonstrated by 
Ernest Hamlin Abbott in his " Training of Parents." 
If ever it be necessary for a principal to be "as wise as 
a serpent and as harmless as a dove," it is when he 
gives this talk. Let him put aside for once the guise of 
pedagogue; let him claim partnership with the parents; 
let him avoid criticism, and openly and courteously ask, 
not for advice, but for help. Let him state frankly that 
the aim of the school is to d^\?]op character, and ex- 
plain some of the methods employe L There can be lit- 
tle question of the kind of response that will come from 
the parents; for that tender, vital cord, their desire for 
the welfare of their children, will have been touched. 

Another way to reach parents, and at the same time 
make a permanent record of school activities, is through 
a school magazine. A board of editors, and business 
managers, may be chosen from among the pupils, al- 
ways with some teacher in charge. The material pub- 
lished should be carefully selected. Too many of the 
children's compositions should not be used. Let there 
be included two or three of the best on the monthly 
topic. A modest account of the activities of the school, 
a letter to parents from the principal, a timely explana- 
tion of some school work, are in order. Temperate notes 
on athletics, an impersonal narration of some deed of 



INDIRECT TRAINING 65 

charity or helpfulness are always interesting. The 
editor must observe in this, as in all work, the chosen 
aim of the school; and whatever would, in any way, 
prevent the attainment of this aim is to be elimi- 
nated. Honor rolls, competition, personal reflection, 
boasting, questionable jokes, slang, smartness, — in short, 
anything that tends to create wrong desires or low ideals, 
— should be omitted. "Thoughts are forces," and there- 
fore none but the best should appear in a school maga- 
zine. 

A school library always has been, and always will be, 
a center from which may radiate much good. In spite 
of ridicule and criticism, Andrew Carnegie struck the 
true note of moral betterment when he started to girdle 
the land with libraries. Books contain the thoughts of 
mankind; and if the nation is to reach a higher moral 
plane, what better forces can be employed than the 
noblest thoughts of the best writers ? 

As early as possible, the principal should seek to install 
a carefully-selected library, in an attractively-furnished 
room, accessible to all class-rooms, with a good supply of 
wholesome, instructive and elevating books, magazines, 
and papers, — children 's, as well as adults '. In all towns 
with public libraries, the children's section is an impor- 
tant feature. Let the schools take a hint from this. As 
they have assumed many of the activities once provided 
by charity or the churches; e. g., kindergartens, cook- 
ing-rooms, gymnasiums ; so they should make the library 
one of the auxiliaries to the child's complete educa- 
tion. What unlimited forces for moral and social up- 
lift the teacher puts into the hands of his pupils, when 
he cultivates a taste for right reading, by directing them 



66 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

to proper books ! Surely this means of direct, as well as 
indirect, ethical culture should not be slighted or ig- 
nored. 

An Alumni Association may, or may not, be a means 
of cultivating a love for the right. That depends upon 
the spirit in which it is conducted. If its meetings fos- 
ter the spirit of the school that is reflected by pursuit 
of the noble qualities, they will do good, both to the 
alumni and to undergraduates. This does not imply a 
neglect of the social spirit, or of interest in, and love 
for, the school for itself. These are very important and 
are, in themselves, ethical in character. 

But where alumni societies become mutual admira- 
tion clubs, or make their meetings the occasion for ordi- 
nary social pleasures, their ethical value may be ques- 
tioned. If, on the other hand, old pupils meet to recall 
the sacred, happy memories of precious moments spent 
in the school halls, to revive and keep alive the high 
ideals kindled in the fresh, enthusiastic hearts of youth, 
and so to pass on these aspirations to succeeding bands 
of imitative and emulating boys and girls, then the 
value of alumni associations is great, indeed; and it is 
wise to foster love and loyalty for the alma mater by 
their means. 

If we are to adopt the ethical aim in all our work, 
we must present such subject matter as will aid directly 
or indirectly the attainment of this aim. Some day a 
course of study may be outlined with this end in view. 
At present our elementary school curricula seem 
planned chiefly to prepare pupils for high school or busi- 
ness. But whatever the course, let us select and empha- 
size whatever of the work will fit our pupils for efficient, 



INDIRECT TRAINING 67 

altruistic, moral life. To do this, much must be elim- 
inated. All that fixes the thought of the child upon 
the purely mercenary, the selfishly competitive, the rep- 
rehensible in conduct, the bloody or warlike in history, 
or upon sarcasm, strife, or political plotting, — in short, 
whatever has a destructive or vicious tendency, must be 
omitted. 

Without continual preaching, everything should be 
taught that inspires a better life. In arithmetic, for ex- 
ample, problems of dollars and cents should be limited; 
otherwise, the child becomes infected with the idea that 
the pursuit of wealth is the main thing in life. Exam- 
ples of profit and loss should be largely, and those in- 
volving sharp bargains should be entirely, omitted. If 
the teacher supplies original problems, he can easily 
bring in some generous transaction. For example, if the 
topic for the week or month be good-will or giving, and 
percentage be the work in arithmetic, a problem like this 
may be given : 

Harold had $2.80 to spend for Christmas presents. 
He spent 46% for something for his mother, 25% for 
his father, etc. 

Commercial geography has been somewhat overdone 
of late. Man was not put upon the earth, neither were 
continents and oceans and rivers formed, for the sole 
purpose of trade. Histories are now written with at 
least a negatively ethical aim; and long, detailed de- 
scriptions of battles and wars are omitted. In general, 
however, text-books of the present day are far from per- 
fect. But when right living and high thinking become 
the controlling ideals of the age, there will be a corre- 
sponding elevation in the tone of readers, histories, geog- 



M SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

raphies, and whatever other texts may be put into the 
hands of the child. 

Little need be said as to the effect upon the child's 
tastes and character, of the building and its equipment 
and surroundings. Boards of Education are now active 
in supplying the best. It is, of course, difficult to recon- 
cile poorly-lighted, ill- ventilated, and crowded class-rooms 
with effective ethical culture. In spite of this, however, 
a genius for making the best of bad conditions can over- 
come this disadvantage. A plant with bright blossoms 
may be placed in a dark corner ; an aquarium with gold- 
fish in another; a good print, neatly framed, may be 
hung on the wall; the teacher's desk should be a model 
of neatness; order and neatness should be found every- 
where. 

In our modern, well-lighted, beautiful buildings, we 
have much in the way of mural decoration, pictures, and 
statuary. It is a hopeful sign of the times that, in the 
best schools, pictures are no longer hung for the mere 
purpose of decoration. They must now be the best pic- 
tures; either possessing artistic value, or else affording 
moral instruction. 

To-day we hear a good deal about school gardens. 
There can be no question of their ethical value. What- 
ever brings the child within the charm of Nature, must 
lead him to a fuller appreciation of her beauties, her 
orderliness, and her industry, and inspire him with a 
desire to emulate her. 

The thoughtful, watchful, inventive teacher will find 
many other means of cultivating the moral faculties,' 
and will make all pay tribute to his one supreme pur- 
pose, the moral growth of his children. 



CHAPTER XIY 

RESULTS OP MORAL TRAINING 

A tree is known by its fruits, a system of moral train- 
ing by its effects upon character. All teaching is 
judged by results; though the manner of proving these 
differs. In purely intellectual teaching, results may be 
tested by oral and written examinations; in technical 
training, by the products of the hand ; in music, by ar- 
tistic execution. The effects of character training, how- 
ever, are not subject to such methodical or practical 
tests : character is too large, and it does not show uni- 
form development. Sometimes seed that has been sown 
remains a long time apparently dormant. Often a 
teacher loses heart because he fails to see signs of awak- 
ening conscience or moral power. But let him not weary 
in well doing. He must labor on, often unmindful of 
immediate results, and satisfied with bearing witness, in 
word and deed, to the truth. For he knows that, some- 
how, the truth must touch the child and move him. 

As a matter of record, where moral training has been 
made the chief part of school work, changes have taken 
place that are almost marvelous. For example, where 
a forceful, skillful person has taken charge, chaos has 
been made into order. But this growth by control from 
within is vastly different from mere order imposed from 
without. 

In a western city, a school located in the slums had 

69 



70 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

been regarded as beyond the control of anyone. A lady 
who believed in a system of direct moral training as- 
sumed charge. Her first effort was to enlist the interest 
of the pupils in the power of thought, by showing them 
that the boys and the girls who wanted to do something 
worth while, must give care to their thoughts. At the 
same time, she took pains to furnish them subjects for 
better thinking, and gave to them through word and 
suggestion, her own best thoughts. This seemed such 
a novel way of appealing to them, that it aroused their 
curiosity, and later caused them to see the reasonable- 
ness of a better way. In a short time, it seemed as 
though seven devils had been cast out of that school. 

Corresponding in some small degree to the poor- 
schools of London, are the schools of the Children's Aid 
Society of New York. In one of these the principal be- 
came converted to the doctrine of direct ethical instruc- 
tion ; and the children became like clay in the hands of 
a potter. In a school in the so-called Tenderloin Dis- 
trict of New York, a teacher took charge of a class com- 
posed of fourteen-year-old boys of the worst type: boys 
who habitually went to bed after midnight, stole, drank, 
smoked, and led the lowest kind of life, because they 
lived in the wickedest part of a great metropolis. This 
teacher, too, believed in the all-conquering power of di- 
recting thoughts and activities into right channels. His 
first work was to give a boy who was the leader of a 
rough gang the office of governor of the class. The gov- 
ernor was asked to preserve order, and to help those who 
were behind in work. The effect upon him, as well as 
upon the rest of the class, was magical. On one occasion 
the teacher was detained at home for three days, and the 



RESULTS OP MORAL TRAINING 71 

class sent their representative to the principal, to ask 
that they might take care of themselves. The request 
was granted. During the day, the principal looked in 
upon them: the governor was at the teacher's desk hear- 
ing the lessons, and the order was perfect. So great 
was the ultimate change in the governor's conduct, as 
welJ as in his appearance, that when he left school to go 
to work, he received the strongest of testimonials, and 
was started on an honorable career. 

Reference has already been made to the benefit of the 
system upon the teacher. Teaching is no longer re- 
garded as drudgery, but is looked upon as a labor of love. 
The artisan has become an artist, and his work fascinates 
him with its charm. It is the experience of Pygmalion 
and Galatea repeated. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Note. The bibliography of ethical instruction is an ex- 
tensive one. Edward Howard Griggs, in the volume 
mentioned below, devotes forty-three pages to it, and 
does not by any means exhaust the list. When, how- 
ever, one attempts to select from this great number the 
books of practical value to the elementary school teacher, 
the list is surprisingly small. After excluding all 
purely abstract works on the science of ethics, and all 
that merely emphasize the need of instruction in the 
subject, I find after careful selection that of those which 
are available for immediate practical use the following 
are the best: 
Moral Education. Edward Howard Griggs. B. W. 

Huebsch, New York, 1906. 
The Brownley System of Child Training. Jane Brown- 
ley. Holden, Springfield, Mass., 1906. 
Morals and Manners. William J. Shearer. Macmillan, 

New York, 1905. 
Ethics for Young People. C. C. Everett. Ginn & Co., 

Boston, 1891. 
Conduct as a Fine Art. Gilman and Jackson. Hough- 
ton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1891. 
Primer of Right and Wrong. J. N. Larned. Hough- 
ton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1902. 
Moral Instruction of Children. Felix Adler. Apple- 
ton, New York, 1902. 

72 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 73 

The Heart of a Boy. G. Mantellini. Laird & Lee, 

Chicago, 1899. 
The Boy Problem. William Byron Forbush. Pilgrim 

Press, Boston, 1901. 
Youth, its Education, Begimen, and Hygiene. G. 

Stanley Hall. Appleton, New York, 1909/ 
Duty. J. H. Seelye. Ginn & Co., Boston, 1892 
School Management. E. E. White. American Book 

Co., New York, 1892. 
Children's Rights. Kate Douglas Wiggin. Houghton, 

Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1892. 
Moral Instruction and Training in Schools. Edited by 

M. A. Sadler. Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1909. 
Ethics of Success. Readers I, II, III. Siver, Burdett 

& Co., New York, 1907. 
Practical Ethics. William DeWitt Hyde. Henry Holt 

& Co., New York, 1892. 
Lessons on Morals. Julia M. Dewey. Hinds & Noble, 

New York. 



PART II 



I. MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 

1. OBEDIENCE 
PRIMARY 

FIRST WEEK 

1. Monday. Why may we not talk aloud in the class? 
Whom must we mind in school? Why? Why would it 
not be right for every one to do as he pleased in the class? 

2* Tuesday. Why may not babies come to school? 
What would happen if they came? Why couldn't they 
learn? Is it babyish to mind, or not to mind? 

3. Wednesday. Did your father and mother have to 
obey their parents? Did your grandfather obey? Sup- 
pose everybody did only what he pleased? 

4. Thursday. Does your teacher have to mind? 
Suppose she read a novel all day in school, or went to sleep, 
or did not teach you; what would happen? Does papa 
have to obey? Why may he not do as he pleases? Every- 
body has to mind. 

5. Friday. Quotation. Learn and talk about it. 

second week 

1. Monday. If you put your finger into the fire, what 
happens? Could you escape punishment? If you fell 

77 



78 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

from the top of a house, what would probably be the 
result? 

2. Tuesday. What did we talk about yesterday? We 
call such occurrences laws of Nature. Can you name 
others ? (Suggest seasons, planting, etc.) Are such laws 
ever broken without punishment? 

3. Wednesday. How do we learn to obey Nature's 
laws? Who made those laws? Are they for our good? 
Shall we obey them gladly? 

4. Thursday. Name some city laws about sidewalks, 
playing ball in the street, playing cat. Why are these 
laws made? Who makes them? If we break the law, 
what may happen? 

5. Friday. Quotation. Learn, recite, discuss. 

THIRD WEEK 

1. Monday. If you play tag, and some one tags you, 
why do you have to be " it"? Why do you obey that law? 
Who makes the law of games? Talk about the laws of 
other games, as baseball or hide-and-seek. 

2. Tuesday. Why do boys tip their hats to ladies? 
Who says they must? Why may not every one do as he 
pleases in company? 

3. Wednesday. If your parents or teachers ask you to 
do something, why is it best to obey? Why should you 
like your children to obey? Shall we obey in our class? 

4. Thursday. It is easy to obey if we get the habit. 
How do you feel when you obey? Read the ten command- 
ments. Which of those are good for boys and girls? 

5. Friday. Quotation. Copy, learn, recite, discuss. 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 79 

INTERMEDIATE 

FIRST WEEK 

1. Monday. School Laws. Have we many laws in 
this school? Name some. Why are these rules made? 
Why do pupils obey them? Why do most of us like to 
obey these rules? Does our love for our school help us? 

2. Tuesday. Obedience is manly. It is manly (or 
womanly) to obey. It is childish to disobey. Soldiers 
obey their captain. Cowards run away from battle. 
Which boy or girl do you respect most, one who obeys or 
one who disobeys? (Tell the story of the boy on the burn- 
ing deck, or of the watchman at Pompeii, or of some great 
sacrifice to obedience, for reproduction in a composition.) 

3. Wednesday. Obedience in Games. When playing 
dominoes or other games, why obey the rules of the game? 
What would you think of a boy who refused to obey the 
rules in a baseball game? Law and obedience are necessary 
even in games. 

4. Thursday. Laws of Society. Why do boys tip 
their hats to ladies and elders? Do they have to? Why 
wear a collar or clean clothes? Why are we polite to one 
another? What do we call a boy or a girl who refuses to 
obey the rules of society? 

. 5. Friday. Quotation. Copy, learn, recite, discuss. 

Obedience is the grandest thing in the world to begin with. 
The one essential of chivalry was obedience. 

— George Macdonald. 
"True obedience neither procrastinates nor questions." 

SECOND WEEK 

1. Monday. Nature's Laws. Why do builders make 
a foundation of heavy stone below the frost line? Sup- 



80 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

pose they did not, what would happen? If farmers planted 
their crops in the late fall instead of in the spring, why 
would the crops not grow? Mention some laws of Nature. 
(Fire burning, etc.) 

2. Tuesday. Nature Punishes. When we refuse to 
obey Nature's laws, how does she treat us? Does she ever 
forget to punish us? Who makes these laws? Why? 

3. Wednesday. City Laws. Who made the law for- 
bidding the throwing of garbage into the street ? Why were 
this and other health laws made? What is the law about 
working-papers, or attending school? (Write out care- 
fully.) Why made? 

4. Thursday. Federal, State, and Local Laws. There 
are men elected every year or so to make laws for the 
people. Some laws are made at Washington, some at the 
State Capital, some by the City Council or Aldermen, or 
by the county supervisors. Name one of each kind. 

5. Friday. Quotation. Learn and discuss. Will some 
one bring in the whole poem? 

"Theirs not to reason why, 
Theirs not to make reply, 
Theirs but to do and die ; 
Into the valley of death rode the six hundred." 

THIRD WEEK 

1. Monday. When a boy or girl starts a society or 
club, what is the first thing to be done? When our country 
was made free, what was the first thing Jefferson, Wash- 
ington, Madison, and others did? Where can you find 
the Constitution? 

2. Tuesday. So you see, law is everywhere, — in 
games, in society, in Nature, in the army, in the state, in 
the country. What is the most sensible, manly, and wise 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 81 

thing to do with it? What do we call a person who refuses 
to believe in or obey laws? 

3. Wednesday. Ideal of Obedience. Who is your 
ideal or pattern of obedience? Do you think less of him, 
because he obeys? Give an instance of his doing, not 
what he pleased, but what he was asked to do. 

4. Thursday. Effect of habitual obedience on char- 
acter. Spontaneous, voluntary. Give the meaning of 
these terms. To say, " I will," and obey, when it is easier 
to say, "I will not," and refuse to obey, gives backbone to 
character. Which will you be like, a jellyfish or like a lion 
in strength? 

5. Friday. Quotations. 

"Conscience, her first law broken, wounded lies." 

Follow orders, plow and sow, but do not ask why. One alone 
knows why, and that One loves thee. Let that suffice. 

— Chakles Wagner, author of "The Simple Life." 

ADVANCED 

1. Topic: Obedience for Older Boys and Girls. 

Question: How long should older boys and girls obey 
their parents? What do you think of a manly boy 
or a ladylike girl who strives to please mother and 
father? What shall you call your father as you grow 
older? 

2. Topic: Obedience to Parents. 

Question: Just why should we obey our parents, even 
though they ask us to do things which we do not like? 
Why cannot we do as we please? 

3. Topic: Obedience in School. 

Question: Which do you like better, a teacher who lets 
you do as you please, or one who exacts obedience? An 



82 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

orderly class or disorderly class? Where can you learn 
the more? 

4. Topic: Prompt, Cheerful Obedience. 
Question: Do you like to be commanded to do things? 

Try to do things before it is necessary to be commanded. 
The boy or girl who tries to anticipate his teacher or em- 
ployer is the one who is liked and who succeeds. Some- 
times do more than is asked. 

5. Quotations. 

" True obedience neither procrastinates nor questions." 

Follow orders, plow and sow, but do not ask why. One alone 
knows why, and that One loves thee. Let that suffice. 

— Charles Wagner, author of " The Simple Life." 

6. Topic: Everybody has to Obey. 

Question: Your father cannot do as he pleases, or he 
would lose his job. Your mother has to obey the doctor 
when giving you medicine. Trace authority of teacher 
through Board of Education. 

7. Topic : Difference between Law and Anarchy. 
Question: Which country is best, where laws are gladly 

obeyed, or where they are disregarded? How do people 
regard law breakers? Who can recite the ten command- 
ments? 

8. Topic: What is the Highest Law of the Land? 
Question: Who makes our laws in city, state, nation? 

Who sees that they are obeyed? Who decides whether a 
law has been broken and what the punishment must be if 
laws are broken? 

In days of chivalry, pages, squires, and knights obeyed 
willingly the commands of the king or lady to whom 
each had given a pledge. Let some one tell a story of 
knighthood. 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 83 

9. Quotation: 

Obedience" is the grandest thing in the world to begin with. 
The one essential of chivalry was obedience. 

— George Macdonald. 

10. Topic: Laws in the Natural World which 
Must be Obeyed. Fire burns. Apples fall. Water runs 
down hill. 

Question: What happens if we disobey? Does Nature 
forget to punish? 

11. Topic: Moral Law. 

Question: Why are our consciences given us? Has a 
dog a conscience? Martyrs died rather than disobey 
conscience. "Conscience, her first law broken, wounded 
lies. ,, 

Review: Obedience is not servile, but noble. How do 
we feel when we obey conscience? How do our parents feel ? 

2. REAL SELF 
PRIMARY 

1. Has your mamma a servant? What must servants 
do? Do you know that you have a servant, or many 
servants? Do you know that they work for you? 

2. Quotation: 

" Each little finger on each little hand, 
Feet, ears, and tongue, all belong to a band 
Of servants, faithful, and good and true, 
Who do all your work they are told to do." 

3. Are yours good servants? Do they obey you? 
What servants carry you to school? What servants carry 
food to your mouth? Are they clean servants? 

4. If we want our body, hands, etc., to do our work, 



84 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

how should we care for them? Do these servants ever 
get tired? What should we do with them, then? 

5. Food and the Body. Why do we eat? If we eat 
too much, what will our bodies do? We must obey the 
laws about food, or our stomachs will object. 

6. My body, then, is only my servant, it is not I. 
Did you ever hear of a child who had one of his servants, 
or legs, cut off? Was it not too bad? 

7. Besides the body, you have another servant that 
does your thinking for you. What is it? 

8. How else does it work for you? It remembers. 
What does it remember? 

9. How do you feed the body? How do you feed the 
mind? 

10. If you want to write a letter to your cousin, how do 
you know how to spell a word? 

11. Why do you come to school? To feed the mind so 
as to make it a good servant. 

12. Does papa earn money for you with his hands, or 
with his mind? You see a well-trained mind can be a good 
servant to earn things for us. 

13. We must make our minds obey. " Now, mind, you 
study that 'table.' Some day I want you to give it back 
to me." 

14. Why should I make my mind learn to read and 
remember things? Does my mind obey me? 

15. Your real self is not your body or your mind. It 
is the 'I will/ Is your 'I will' the master? 

16. Does your tongue obey your 'I will'? Do your 
hands always do as you say, or are they your masters? 

17. Whenever we see or hear anything, it goes into our 
minds and we remember it. Is your mind full of good or 
bad memories? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 85 

18. When we think kind or brave thoughts, we grow 
kind and brave. Let us all be still and think a kind 
thought about somebody for about two minutes. 

19. Quotation: 

" You never can tell what your thoughts will do, 

In bringing you hate or love ; 
For thoughts are things, and their airy wings 

Are swift as the carrier dove. 
They follow the law of the universe, 

Each thing must create its kind, 
And they speed o'er the track to bring you back 

Whatever went out from your mind." 

ADVANCED 

1. Body a Servant. Has your mamma a servant ? 
What does she do? Did you know that you had a servant, 
or many servants? (Illustrate, — hands, feet, tongue, 
heart, teeth, etc.) Do they mind you? Avoid the idea 
of inferiority of servants. Everybody has to work. 

2. Quotation. About Service. (Ich dien.) "To 
serve is noble." 

3. Care of Body. If we want our servants to do good 
work, how should we treat them? We need clean and 
healthy servants. What about overworking our servants? 
Proper eating, sleep, bathing, etc. The body is like a 
house in which we dwell. 

4. If we want our servants to live long and be useful 
to us, we should see that nothing harms them. Which 
is better, a skillful or a careless, clumsy worker? Are 
your fingers good servants? Do they write well, or play 
the violin or the piano well, or sew or draw well? 

5. Mind a Servant. Then you and I have another 
useful servant, which does so much work for us, — in fact, 



86 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

it works for us all the time. Can you think of some work 
which it does? 

6. A Healthy Mind. To be healthy, the mind must 
be fed and exercised, and made skillful. How can we 
feed the mind? What will make the mind bright? 

7. Daily Work for the Mind. "Now, Mind, you 
must learn that spelling lesson, or table, to-day. I want 
you to learn it perfectly, for I do not want a stupid, slovenly 
servant." 

8. It is strange that the mind gives back what it is 
given. Useful information, facts, etc. Why do you go 
to school? What do you learn to think about in school? 

9. Control of the Mind. Do you ever try to drive 
idle or bad thoughts out of your mind? When you study, 
what must you do with roving thoughts? How can you 
fix your mind on your studies? 

10. Training the Mind and Memory. How can I make 
myself remember? How can I study? Go by myself 
and say, "I will remember." 

11. The Real Self. Who has a body? Who has a 
mind? Who is the * I ' ? Will you ever lose your body? 
The body changes every seven years. We cut our nails, 
and hair, and when we wash, particles of skin are taken 
away. 

12. Did you ever hear of people who had lost their 
minds? What about old people, or the aged? Do you 
think as you did last year? Even the mind changes. 

13. The real self goes on and on. It uses the body to 
do its work, and the mind thinks for it. Are you boss, or 
ruler, of your body and your mind? Or does some one else 
control it? What about bad companions? 

14. Thoughts help to make the real self, just as food 
makes the body. What kind of thoughts are you feeding 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 87 

your real self? What kind of self will right thoughts make? 
Why should we drive away wrong thoughts? They make 
our bodies unhealthy. 

15. Quotations: 

As a man thinketh, so is he. — Bible. 
" Evil thoughts are more dangerous than wild beasts." 
"Keep your head and heart full of good thoughts, and bad 
ones will find no room." 

16. Why do you go to school? How can we get right 
thoughts from history? Do we pay servants generally? 
How much do we pay the body? Do our mothers pay 
us for eating? Why not? 

17. Who pays the mind? Shall we receive pay for study- 
ing? Why do we come to school? Do report cards pay 
us? (Instruct pupils fully about sealed report cards for 
parents.) Why sealed? We trust you not to open them. 

18. Make a list of thoughts you would like to have. 
What should be our first thought upon waking? On re- 
tiring? What would you like to be? Think about it, and 
you will be such. Story of the boy who wanted to be a 
knight. 

19. How do our companions affect our thoughts? Do 
stories and books make us think differently? Can you 
govern your thoughts? Send out a kind thought to some 
one every day. 

20. Quotation: 

Evil is wrought from lack of thought, 
As well as from lack of heart. 

— Herbert. 



88 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

3. SELF-CONTROL 
PRIMARY 

1. What do we mean by self-control? What controls 
a trolley car? A ship? A horse? 

2. Why cannot a baby walk when it is very little? 
Why does it fall so often? 

3. We all have to control our actions. What do you 
do when you skate? 

4. What kind of boy does not control himself? 

5. Do you need some one to make you control yourself, 
or can you do it yourself? 

6. What do others think of us when we lose our tempers? 
What do we think of ourselves? 

7. When you lose your temper, what is the first thing 
you do? Call names? Fight? Dogs fight. 

t 8. When you go to work, what will happen if you lose 
your temper? Would your employer let you keep the place? 
9. Does self-control pay? In self-respect? In having a 
clear head? 

10. If every child had self-control, how easy the school 
work would be. 

11. If you do not get promoted, will you have self- 
control and try harder the next time? 

12. Have you tried all the month to have self-control? 

ADVANCED 

1. Body, Mind, the Real Self. Which shall control? 
Whom shall it control? What controls a trolley car? 
"He who reigns within himself, and rules passions, desires, 
and fears, is more than a king." - 

2. What steers a ship? How is an automobile directed? 



MORALS : TOPIC AND .OUTLINE 89 

Why not let it go itself? What is the difference between 
you and an automobile? Why do we try to teach you 
self-control? 

3. Instinct. When a cat sees a mouse, what does 
it do? Why does it not chase a little dog? What makes 
a dog bark, a cat mew, a horse neigh? _Who taught 
them? 

* 4. Impulse. What makes a dog chase a cat? What 
is an impulsive boy or girl? Why do you not want to be 
impulsive? 

5. Quotation. 

Receive your thoughts as guests, your desires as children. 

— Chinese Proverb. 

What is the meaning of the above? Write meaning in 
ethics book. 

6. " Keep Cool." What has that to do with self-con- 
trol? Will that help in examinations? Let us be hope- 
ful during these examinations, and that will give us greater 
control. 

7. You can control your honor, can you not? Eyes, 
you shall not look on any one else's paper. Ears, you 
shall not hear a correct answer. Tongue, you shall not 
ask for help. Yes, I will control myself during examina- 
tions. I am controlling myself now. How good I 
feel. 

8. Surely I can control my thoughts. Now? How? 
Is it not pleasant to fix my thoughts on what I please? 
Will that help in this week's work? 

9. Control of Tongue. Say only kind things. Of 
course I shall tell the truth. I shall talk of only such things 
as I should like my mother to hear. Why? Please give 
a good answer in ethics book. 



90 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

10. Quotation: 

At each moment of a man's life he is either a king or a slave. 
As day by day he crushes out human weakness, he is a king, 
ruling with wisdom over himself. — Jordan. 

11. "He is to be praised above all, who is his own 
master.' ' What does this mean? Write answer. 

12. Do I do what is right or what I think will please 
others and make them think me smart? If the latter, 
who controls me? Why should I not be content to let 
others control me? 

13. "No man can serve two masters." If I serve sin, 
who controls me? If I serve God, under what control am 
I? Why should I be controlled by the good? 

14. Does the class governor control me? Do I need 
a teacher to control me? Am I controlled by the opinion 
of the class? Who should control me? 

15. Which is better in a class, to be controlled by the 
teacher or to have the pupils control themselves? What 
kind of discipline have we in our class? Of course, we 
need a leader, and as such we obey our teacher. 

16. Quotation. "The sooner you get a child to be a 
law unto himself, the sooner you make a man or a woman 
of the child." Write out the meaning of the above, after 
your teacher has conferred with you on the subject. 

17. Control of Temper. What happens when a 
horse runs away? What happens if your temper runs 
away with you? What was Franklin's rule to prevent 
angry speech? 

18. In Business, Self-control is Necessary. What 
would happen if a saleswoman in a store should get angry? 
Why must a teacher control his temper, and be courteous, 
when angry and unreasonable people see him? 

19. Why does self-control pay? Self-control brings self- 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 91 

respect. How can we control ourselves? Look up; say- 
to yourself, "I can control myself. I am controlling my- 
self now." 

20. When promotion day comes, can I control myself? 
How should I act if promoted? What about the feelings 
of those left back? If I am left back, can I control myself? 
Why am I left back? Who did it? 

21. " Strength of character may be said to consist of 
two things: power of will and power of self-control." 
Think on these things. 

4. SERVICE 
PRIMARY 

1. Has your mother a servant? What does a servant 
do? Why do they serve? 

2. Do all servants get paid? Does your mother serve 
you? Does she receive pay? 

3. Serving another is good. Shall we treat serving 
people kindly? Why? 

4. Did you ever see a Sister of Charity or a Salvation 
Army woman? Why do they go about doing good? 

5. You have servants to feed you, to carry things. 
What are they? Name some other body servants. Do 
they obey you? 

6. What kind of servant is your mind? Does it serve 
you well? Why feed it good thoughts? 

7. Who tells a servant or clerk to do things? Is your 
real self a good master? 

8. How can your real self make its servants — hands, 
feet, tongue, mind — serve others? 

9. Would you like to be real happy? Shall I tell you 
how? Try to make others happy by serving them. 



92 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

10. How can you serve your mother? Why would she 
rather have her boy or girl try to please her than anything 
else? 

11. How can you serve brothers and sisters? Suppose 
they do not thank you, what then? 

12. What can you do to serve one another in school? 
Shall we try to serve all we can to-day? 

13. Serve cheerfully. When your mother asks you to 
do something, what is the best way of doing it? Name other 
instances. 

14. Sometimes we must do disagreeable things in serv- 
ing. Why should we do them willingly? How many un- 
pleasant things must mother do? 

15. When your mother asks you to go to the store or do 
things, why ought she not to pay you? Are you spoiled by 
being paid? 

16. When an American boy does something for his 
teacher, why is he too proud to take a cent? Would you 
offer your teacher a cent for her kindness? Why not? 

17. Can you think of any poor child you can serve? 
Giving is not always serving. How can you serve such? 

18. A new scholar comes to school. How can you serve 
him or her? 

ADVANCED 

1. For what will your father vote on election day? 
What is the difference between the Czar of Russia and the 
President? Whose servant is the President? Can he do 
as he pleases? 

2. Name some great men who have served their coun- 
try. How did Robert Morris serve the United States? 
Find answer in History. See Index. 

3. What can you say about Booker T. Washington? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 93 

Whom does he serve? He dined with President Roosevelt. 
Whom does Jacob Riis serve? He dined with President 
Roosevelt. 

4. Quotations: 

Then none was for a party; then all were for the State; 
Then great men helped the poor; and poor men loved the great. 

— Macaulay. 
He serves me most who serves his country best. — Pope. 

5. How do Sisters of Charity and the Salvation Army 
serve the people? What pay do they get? Why should 
we respect them? Tell the story of Eva Booth and the 
discharged prisoners. (Evangeline.) 

6. How many charitable institutions can you name? 
What are they for? Who first started them? Why? How 
are they supported? (They say small contributions are 
most important.) 

7. Dignity of Service and Labor. Any one who 
does useful work is to be respected. How did Longfellow 
regard the village blacksmith? Are you ashamed to speak 
to a poor man, or boy, or girl who has to work hard? No! 
No!! No!!! 

8. Which is the happier, one who serves for pay alone, 
or one who loves his work because he is helping some one? 
Useful service is joyous. 

9. Read, repeat, and find out the beauties of "The 
Village Blacksmith": 

" The smith, a mighty man is he, 
With large and sinewy hands, 
And the muscles of his brawny arms 
Are strong as iron bands." 

How many know some of it? Draw a picture of it. 

10. How can we serve at home? How many of you do 
errands for your mother without pay? How many of 



94 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

you pay her? How much a day? How can you pay her? 
Serve her as a knight. 

11. Service in School. How does a governor serve 
the class when the teacher is absent or late? Who gets 
the good of his service? Do you help him to serve well? 

12. Service for those in Need. Find out some poor 
person, or unhappy boy or girl, who needs help or kindly 
service, and tell your teacher on paper who it is. What can 
you do to relieve his or her suffering? 

13. Thanksgiving Service. How can we show that we 
are thankful to God for the year's blessings on a special 
day? To whom would you like to send your gifts? 

14. Quotation : 

" I live for those who love me, 
And the good that I can do ; 
For the Heaven that smiles above me, 
And awaits my spirit, too." 

15. Secret Service. "Let not thy left hand know 
what thy right hand doeth." 

George Macdonald says, "When we do a kind deed and 
then tell about it, it is like hanging a fresh piece of meat in 
the hot sun all day." What happens? 

16. To serve another gladly, unselfishly, without thought 
of reward, is to live the best life. 

To serve, while those we serve are ignorant of who helps 
them, is nobler. To keep on serving, even though we 
receive injury and insult from those we serve, is heroic. 

17. Those who wish to, may bring a package and drop 
it in the service box. Put a kind message or card in 
your package. No name. 

18. What good did our service talks do? Are they going 
to fill us with a love of service and make us, 

" Faithful soldiers and servants until our lives' end " ? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 95 

5. HELPFULNESS 

1. At Home. A lie-a-bed in the morning goes to 
school with a dull, sleepy face. Are you quick to rise 
when called? Are you neat and orderly about your person 
and about your room? " Order is Heaven's first law." 

2. See what little services you can give to mother 
before going to school. She is your best friend and always 
will be, no matter how many you may win in life. Name 
some things a boy or girl can do at home just as well as an 
older person. 

3. Do you treat your parents with respect? Do you 
follow their advice? Do you help in such a way that 
they feel they can trust you to do right when you are out of 
their sight? A gentleman asked a father if he was not 
afraid to trust a boy of thirteen to pay a large sum of money. 
"Oh, no," he said, smiling, " I know it is quite safe with him. 
You see he is such a helpful boy." 

4. Quotation : 

" The boys that are wanted are loving boys, 
Fond of home and father and mother; 
Counting the old-fashioned household joys 
Dearer and sweeter than any other. 

" The girls that are wanted are home girls — 
Girls that are mother's right-hand, 
That fathers and mothers can trust to, 
And the little ones understand." 

5. Helpfulness in the School. Are you helping your 
school by being punctual and regular in your attendance? 
Do you help by being orderly and attentive? Are your 
lessons carefully and neatly prepared? How can you help 
in the yard and on the stairs? Have you thought of how 
much you can help your teacher? Name some ways of 
helping the teacher and the school in general. 



96 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

6. Do you need to be a class or school officer in order 
to help? See if you can think what is meant by the poet's 
words, "They also serve who only stand and wait." 
Does it mean that every one can help? How? 

7. "If there is a dull boy in school, help him to learn 
his lessons. If there be a bright one, be not envious of 
him." — Horace Mann. 

8. Is there any other way that you can help the dull 
one? Does it help to make fun of his mistakes? 

9. How can you help in the assembly? Is your march- 
ing the very best that you can do? Do you join in the 
singing with spirit? Have you offered to give a good 
quotation? In what way is the assembly helpful to you? 

" Do something for each other, 
Though small the help may be; 
There's comfort oft in little things, 
Far more than others see." 

10. Helpfulness in the Neighborhood. How can you 
help to make the section in which you live a pleasant one? 
Have you planted a flower? In what way will feeding and 
protecting the birds help? How can you help in the care 
of trees and grass plots? 

11. Why do some landlords object to children in apart- 
ment houses? Can you think of any way to overcome 
that objection? Do you think of any way that you can 
help to make the street on which you live a quiet and 
orderly one? What games ought not to be played on the 
street? What games can you play that will not interfere 
with the rights of others? 

12. Have you ever been tempted to throw paper or 
garbage into the street? Do you keep to the right and 
avoid jostling persons that you meet? Did you walk 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 97 

to school this morning with four or five of your mates 
all walking abreast? No. *Why? 

13. Do you ever meet aged or very infirm people on the 
street? How can you help them? Are there sick people 
on your street? Can you help them in any way by your 
conduct when passing the house? Have you the respect 
of all the people in your neighborhood? Why? 

14. Quotation: 

Be ye to others kind and true, as you'd have others be to you; 
And neither do nor say to them, whatever you would not take 
again. j — Dr. Isaac Watts. 

15. Are you a member of the Knights or the Sunshine 
Circle? What was the Knights' vow? What is your 
motto? Will you help to make Thanksgiving Day a day 
of real thanksgiving for some one who is needy? 

16. Have you acted on any of the suggestions your 
teacher has given you this month about being helpful? 
Don't you feel brighter and happier for it? How do you 
feel about that box of good things that will make some one 
happy? Think of five things you can do to be helpful 
when your parents and friends come here. 

17. Quotation: 

"Lend a hand, like the sun that turns night into morning; 
The light that guides storm-driven sailors to land. 
Ah, life were worth living, with this for the watchword : 
Look up, out, and forward, and each lend a hand." 

18. Write the principal a good, helpful letter about 
something in connection with this month's topic. 



98 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

6. KINDNESS 
PRIMARY 

1. Let us try to do one kind action each day this 
month. 

2. Do you love your father and mother? Then you 
must be kind to them always, for love is kindness. 

3. Kindness is the practice of the Golden Rule. " There- 
fore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do 
unto you, do ye even so unto them." 

4. Quotation: 

" Have you had a kindness shown, pass it on." 

5. If we try to be kind every day, it will become a 
habit. We learn by doing. 

6. Be kind to old people, it makes them and ourselves 
happy. 

7. A pleasant word or a flower sent to a sick person 
is a kind act. 

8. Kindness in the family makes a happy home. Are 
we kind and courteous to our brothers and sisters? 

9. Quotation: 

" Kind words can never die, 
Cherished and blest, 
God knows how deep they lie 
Stored in the breast." 

10. Are we always kind to dumb animals? We must 
remember that they can feel as well as we. i { 

11. Abraham Lincoln was once riding through a piece 
of woods, when he saw some young birds that had fallen 
from their nest. He caught the birds and put them care- 
fully into the nest again. When his friends laughed at 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 99 

him for it, he said, " I could not have slept to-night if I 
had not restored those young birds to their mother." 

12. Like kindness to people, kindness to animals makes 
us more tender toward every creature. 

13. Let us treat kindly the people we meet on cars when 
going from place to place. 

14. Quotation: 

" He prayeth best who loveth best, 
All things both great and small ; 
For the dear God who loveth us, 
He made and loveth all." 

15. The schoolroom is our home for a great part of 
the day. How should we act there? 

16. How do we treat our teachers? Are we kind in our 
manner to them? 

17. Do we treat our companions in the class as we 
would want them to treat us? 

18. Tell your teacher whether you have been trying to 
do a kind act each day as we said we would do on the first 
day of the month. 

ADVANCED 

1. What is the real meaning of each of the words gen- 
tleman and gentlewoman? 

2. How is it possible for a strong or great man to be 
kind? Can you give instances? 

3. Why is it that some big boys are afraid of being 
laughed at for being kind? Would you say they were brave? 

4. How may a big boy show kindness to a big sister? 
To a little sister? To a younger brother? 

5. How may a big sister show kindness to a big brother? 
To a little brother? To a little sister? 

6. Why do old people appreciate kindness? When you 
grow old, how would you like to be treated? 



100 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

7. Kindness to the Poor. Besides giving to them, 
how can we show kindness? Tell the story of Lowell's 
" Sir Launfal." 

8. Discuss the object of the Society for the Prevention 
of Cruelty to Animals; the Audubon Society, etc. 

9. If there comes a shy, strange boy or girl to the 
class, how can we make him or her feel at home? 

10. What is the Sunshine Society for? Are you a 
member? How can you become one? What ought to be 
your motive in joining? 

11. What is the use of having Knights of the Round 
Table? What four virtues do they vow to practice? Are 
you a Knight? How will it help you to be a gentleman? 
A teacher said once that Knights even showed kindness in 
playing basket ball. How? 

12. What do you suppose would be the work of a "Big 
Brother Band." What good could they do? What good 
would come to them? 

13. Name some other societies of young people whose 
object is to do kind deeds. Can you mention societies 
of the same kind for older people? 

14. Why should we feel sorry for a selfish, unkind per- 
son? Why is it that kind people are liked? 

15. Read and discuss the poem "Abou Ben Adhem." 

16. Do you think the world is growing more kind and 
careful of others? Prove it. 

17. Name three kind persons that you know. How do 
you know they are kind? 

18. Let every one bring in a short quotation on kind- 
ness, and recite. 

19. Write an original story on kindness. Let the 
teacher tell his first. 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 101 

7. GOOD WILL 
PRIMARY 

1. All through this month we will try to have good 
will in our hearts. 

2. How can we show good will? By treating every one 
with kindness. 

3. Don't be cross when mother wants you to leave 
your play to do an errand for her. Mind quickly when 
teacher gives an order. « 

4. Quotation. Teacher select one appropriate for 
Christmas. j 

!5. This Christmas time give a present to some one 
from whom you do not expect one. This will show your 
good will. 

6. What will you give mother for her Christmas 
present? Don't you think a book would please her? 

7. Are you saving your pennies to buy her a present? 

8. If you have any Christmas cards from last year, 
why not send them to some one who has less than you? 

9. Quotation: "It is more blessed to give than to 
receive." ■ ►._ j " 

10. Why do you love to give gifts at this time of the 
year? 

11. What makes everyone so happy at Christmas time? 

12. If you have the "good will" habit, it will make 
you kind to every one. .._/*"" 

13. Teacher read a little Christmas story to the 
children. 

14. If we all had the "good will" habit, how pleasant 
we could make our class. 

15. This is the last week of the year. Let us be sure 
to make it the best week of all. How can we do this? 



102 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

16. Talk about Santa Claus, Kriss Kringle, Christmas 
Trees, hanging up your stockings, etc. 

17. Merry Christmas to all, and to all A Happy New 
Year. 

INTERMEDIATE 

1. This month the topic is good will. What do you 
understand by "good will"? Try to put your idea of 
good will into words so as to form a definition. Make an 
individual gift to some unknown person. 

2. You probably help your parents and the little ones 
at home in a great many ways. How do you feel about 
doing those things? Do you have to be urged to do them, 
or do you do them gladly and willingly? 

3. Did you have to be called this morning? Did you 
do the usual errands without being told, and the new one 
promptly? Think out just what good will in the house 
means. 

4. Quotation: 

"Cheerfully take up the task of the day, 
Joyfully carry it on, 
Happiness conies to the willing ones, 
When their work is faithfully done." 

5. Did you ever stop to think what the school is try- 
ing to do for you? Are you meeting its efforts with good 
will and earnest efforts on j r our part? If so, j r ou were in 
your room at fifteen or twenty minutes before nine. Were 
you? 

6. Good will seems to mean, in part, the way we do 
things. Look at your to-day's home work. Are you glad 
to show it to your teacher? Can your teacher sa} r : "That 
work shows a good spirit. It is neatly and correctly done. 
That pupil is a willing worker." 

7. Let us see what we can do to-day to show our 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 103 

good will toward our school. Lessons can be well learned, 
a torn book can be mended, a service can be performed 
for the teacher. What else? Promise yourself now that 
you will do some good act to-day. Then do it. 

8. Our good will, to be worth much, must be followed 
by our good action. Did you resolve yesterday to do some 
one thing better than you had done it before? Did you 
do it? Write down what it was. 

9. Quotation: 

" With firm hearts and strong 
We'll still keep pressing onward, 
And ever still, 
With right good will, 
Mount higher each day." 

" We would be nobler, kind, and true, 
With earnest hearts our task pursue, 
And ever we will strive to do 
The good that we may do." 

10. Did you ever see a finer sight than those boys and 
girls marching up with their Thanksgiving gifts? There 
was an example of good will expressed in actions. Resolve 
again to do some good deed, then do it. 

11. This is the season when our good will toward others 
is expressed in gifts. Shall we give only to those from 
whom we expect gifts in return? You did not expect 
any returns for your Thanksgiving offering. What has 
been your reward? 

12. Do you know of any boy or girl, or any one else, 
who is not likely to give or to receive many gifts at this 
season? Would you like to send them, quietly, a little 
remembrance with a pleasant message of good will? 

13. (Do not copy until after Christmas.) Last year 
we gave a picture to the home. Let us give a good book 
this year to father and mother. Let the teachers help 



104 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

select some good book, not too classical, nor too shallow. 
Let your father far enough into the secret so that he can 
buy a bookcase for Christmas if you have none. 

14. Quotation: 

" What is noble ? 'tis the finer 
Portion of our mind and heart 
Linked to something still diviner 
Than mere language can impart; 
Ever prompting, ever seeing 
Some improvement yet to plan, 
To uplift our fellow-being, 
And like man to feel for man." 

15. The worth of your gift is not its money value. 
What is it? If you want to give something to the folks 
at home, or to a friend, it is the spirit of giving, and not 
the cost of the gift, that is the main thing. 

16. There is also the spirit of receiving as well as of 
giving. How can that spirit conform to your idea of the 
meaning of good will? If you are hoping for a certain 
gift from the home folks, and receive something entirely 
different, how should you feel? How should you act? 

17. Let each class select a topic relating to the month's 
work and write a composition, story, or letter about it. 

18. Let us say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 
with a right good will. 

ADVANCED 

1. Resolved, that during December we have none but 
good will in our hearts and thoughts of good in our mind. 
Every time we entertain or show ill will we shall put one 
cent in a charity box. Let us entertain only good will. 
How do we entertain company? 

2. How can we show good will? Say only kind things, 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 105 

do generous things. Suppose we get up cross and ill- 
natured, how can we conquer it? Buy early and save 
the clerks. Carry home our own parcels and save the 
driver. 

[3. When things go wrong and people abuse us or do 
wrong to us, how shall we preserve our good will? Is it 
easy? Who likes easy things? Perhaps if we think of 
our own shortcomings, we shall be more patient. 

4. Supply quotation. Discuss. 

5. " Giving is living." Read from Bible story of 
widow and two mites. What is the difference between 
giving and exchanging Christmas gifts? To whom can 
you give a present whom you know will not give you one? 
Will you give like that? 

i 6. Secrets. (Do not copy this in your book until 
after Christmas.) Last year we gave a picture to the 
home. Let us give a good book this year to our father 
and mother, and so add to, or begin, a little library. Some- 
how get papa to buy a bookcase for mamma for Christmas, 
letting him partly into the secret. (Let teachers furnish 
a carefully selected list, and help pupils select some book 
not too classical or too shallow.) 

7. The Sunshine Society was started by a woman 
who " Passed along" to some stranger or person shut in, 
her Christmas cards, books, etc. What can we do in that 
line this year? Let us pass along all the kind things we 
hear, and strangle the bad gossip. Let us, also, like 
Mrs. Alden, pass along all the presents that we have 
outgrown. 

! 8. Give quickly, give freely. Deny yourself, or it is 
not giving. To give away old clothes is not great charity, 
only as it makes us think of others. Tell the story of 
giving money at Beecher's Church to free the slaves, 



106 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

where ladies took off their jewels and men their watches 
and put them into the collection basket. 

9. Quotation. "It is more blessed to give than to 
receive. " Think of others. 

10. Read I Corinthians xiii. Charity means more than 
giving. Why do we say " Sisters of Charity"? 

What have they to give? What does it mean to be 
charitable towards other people's faults? 

11. How is it possible to give and not have charity? 
Would you do that? Who besides your parents is the 
most charitable person you know? Who has the kindest, 
most forgiving way? Why do you like that person? 

12. Why did our school give so much at Thanksgiving? 
Why did you give? Be honest with yourself. Why will 
you give presents at Christmas or New Year? Have you 
bought your parents' present yet? 

13. What makes everybody so happy at Christmas? 
Read Dickens's " Christmas Carol" to-day and Friday 
afternoon. 

| 14. Quotation. Christmas song or other Christmas 
poem. Avoid hurting any one's feelings. That would 
show a lack of good will. 

15. Finish Dickens's story of Tiny Tim. Peace on 
earth. What do you know about the Peace Conference 
at the Hague? Suppose all the nations should agree 
positively to give up fighting, what would become of the 
soldiers, guns, forts, warships, etc.? Would the world be 
better off? 

16. If everybody were unselfish, that is, looked out for 
others first, what would be the result? Could business 
be conducted with perfect good will and no sharp 
bargaining? 

17. Answer the principal's letter. How shall we 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 107 

answer it, so as to have it show a lot of good will and 
yet be without flattery? ; 

18. Santa Claus, Kriss Kringle, Christmas, Christmas 
trees, hanging up stockings. 

Merry Christmas to all and A Happy New Year. 

19. Quotation. The good will habit. 

A habit of holding a kindly attitude of mind toward 
everybody has a powerful influence upon the character. 
It lifts the mind above petty jealousies and meanness. It 
enriches and enlarges the whole mind. When we meet 
people, no matter if they are strangers, we feel a certain 
kinship with and friendliness for them, if we have formed 
the " good will " habit. 

The kindly habit, the " good will " habit, makes us feel 
more sympathy for everybody. And if we radiate this 
helpful, friendly feeling, others will reflect it back to us. 

On the other hand, if we go through life with a selfish 
mental attitude, caring only for our own, always looking 
for the main chance, thinking only of what will further 
our own interest, our own comfort, totally indifferent to 
others, this attitude will, after a while, harden the feelings 
and the affections. 

8. CONFIDENCE 

1. Topic: Confidence — its Meaning. 

Questions: Synonyms are faith, trust. Whom do you 
trust most fully? Then in whom should you confide every- 
thing? Why should mother be the girl's confidential 
companion? And father, the boy's? 

2. Topic: Confidence in our Parents. 

Questions: A dutiful child will trust his parents. Are 
you frank and open-hearted with your parents? Can you 
trust them fully? Why should you? 



108 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

3. Topic: Confidence in the Home. 

Questions: What kind of spirit would you like in your 
home? Your parents trust you. Are you worthy of their 
confidence? How can you show it? 

4. Topic: Confidence in the Home. 

Questions: Why do you trust father and mother? 
Brother and sister? Why do you obey at home without 
stopping to ask the reason? 

5. Topic: The Model Home is Permeated with a 
Spirit of Love and Confidence. 

Questions: Let pupils discuss the above. 

6. Topic: Confidence in our Teachers. 
Questions: Just as in the model home we must have 

love and confidence, so in our school. Who besides your 
parents are interested in you? Can you trust your 
teachers? Do you try? 

7. Topic: Confidence in our Teachers. 
Questions: If you trust your teacher perfectly, you can- 
not deceive her. There are people to whom you cannot 
lie. They are those whom you really love. Are you ever 
tempted to lie to escape punishment? 

8. Topic: Confidence in our Pupils. 

Questions: Why should teacher and pupils have confi- 
dence in each other? Which is happier, a class that can 
be trusted or one that must be watched? 

9. Topic: Confidence in our Pupils. 

Questions: How can you make your teacher feel you are 
worthy of her confidence? Are you kind and thoughtful 
at all times in your words and actions toward your teacher 
and the other pupils? 

10. Topic: Confidence between Teacher and 
Pupils. 

Questions: How can we prove that we trust each other? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 109 

Must your teacher ever be suspicious of you? When do 
you doubt me? 

11. Topic: Confidence in Othees. 

Questions: Wouldn't the world be happier if we trusted 
each other more? Is this a good motto: Trust every one 
until he proves himself not worthy of your trust? Why? 

12. Topic: Confidence in Others. 

Questions: Human hearts are bound together the world 
over by confidence. Have you confidence in your home? 
In your school? In your country? Do you believe each 
is trying to do the best for you? 

13. Topic: Confidence in Others. 

Questions: How do you feel when you find a playmate 
whom you can trust perfectly? Do you want people to 
trust you? Then what must be your attitude towards 

others? 

14. Topic: Confidence in Others. 

Questions: Have you confidence in your schoolmates? 
Can they trust you? How can you gain the confidence of 

others? 

15. Topic: Confidence in Others. 
Quotation: Supply. 

16. Topic: Confidence in One's Self. 

Questions: Never accept help in any problem until you 
have fairly tried what you can do alone. Why? Faith 
in one's self simply says - 1 will do my best. This is the 
essential of heroism. 

17 Topic: Faith in One's Self. 

Questions: This gives one courage. Is there any satis- 
faction in having accomplished a thing by your own 
effort? Try it. Is this feeling of satisfaction sufficient 
reward? 

18. Topic: Confidence in One's Self. 



110 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

' Questions: Don't think you are sick and weak. Say to 
yourself, "I am well and strong," and you will find your- 
self so. Would you like to be strong and healthy and 
well? Why do you not like to look at a pale and sickly 
person? 

19. Topic: Confidence in One's Self. 

Quotation: "The first step to failure is the first doubt 
of yourself." 

" Friendship, above all ties, doth bind the heart, 
And faith in friendship is the noblest part.' 7 

9. GRATITUDE 

1. What does it mean to be grateful? In ancient 
Rome an ungrateful person was stoned to death. Sup- 
pose that were the law now, would you be liable to 
be punished in that way? 

2. To whom should we first be grateful? Why? 
Mention three ways in which we could show our gratitude. 
When we fail to show it, how do our parents feel? How 
do we feel? 

3. Do you feel grateful to your teacher for anything? 
Tell what things a teacher can do for which his salary 
cannot pay him. Why does he appreciate gratitude? 
Why do you feel better when you show it? 

4. What is a kind, simple way of showing that we are 
grateful for kindness? Why should we say it to every- 
body? Why do we call a person who does not say it, ill- 
mannered? 

5. Somebody says that boys and girls of to-day do 
not half appreciate what is done for them. Do you be- 
lieve it? Why do you not want to be of that kind? 

6. Who made the beautiful earth? Who gives us 



MORALS : TOPIC AND OUTLINE 111 

life's best blessings? What day in the year is set apart to 
return thanks? Why does the President call upon us to 
return thanks? 

7. When you wake up in the morning, do you feel 
thankful for safe keeping? What might have occurred 
to you? How can you show your gratitude? Do you say 
a word of thanks every night and every morning? Try it. 

8. Sometimes others are very kind to us, and after- 
ward we imagine that they do something unkind. Why 
should we remember the good and forget the bad? Is it 
easy? 

9. Even a dog is thankful for what his master does 
for him. How does he show it? Can you tell a brief 
story? 

10. Name some great men besides Washington and 
Lincoln who did great things for their country. How 
does the country show gratitude? What gratitude do we 
show on Memorial Day? 

11. Why do we not show gratitude at Christmas if we 
give presents to pay others for giving us presents? How 
can we show gratitude? 

12. When we are sincerely thankful, what feeling is 
back of this? Can you dislike a person and be grateful? 
To how many people do you feel grateful? 

i 

10. CHARITY 

1. Topic: Meaning of the Word. 

Quotation: "For the poor always ye have with you." 

2. Topic: The Spirit of Charity. 

Quotation: "And though I bestow all my goods to feed 
the poor, . . . and have not charity, it profiteth me 
nothing. " 



112 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Questions: Explain above quotation. How then shall 
we give to the poor? 

3. Topic: Spirit of Charity. 

Questions: What effect will this kind of giving have 
upon us? Will it make us more thoughtful of others? 
More unselfish? 

4. Topic: Charity the Product of Love. 
Questions: Why should all true charity consist of a 

kind and loving thought accompanying the gift? Then 
why must we give more than food and clothes? 

5. Topic: Spirit of Charity. 
Quotation: "Bear ye one another's burdens." 
Questions: Even though we may not be able to give 

much material aid, why is it our duty to give cheer, com- 
fort, advice, and encouragement? 

6. Topic: Spirit of Charity. 

Questions: To whom shall we give charity? Why 
should we all aid those who are poor and needy? The 
poor are our brothers and sisters, and on this ground we 
owe them our charity. 

7. Topic: Spirit of Charity. 

Questions: Shall we wait for the poor to come to us? 
Why not? When we find a poor family who need our 
help, what is our first impulse? Why do you first think 
of supplying their bodily needs? Why do you feel happier 
when you have done this? 

8. Topic: How to give Charity. 

Questions: After supplying present needs, why should 
we kindly and sympathetically find out all that can be 
known about the family? How will this help us to give 
them real charity? 

9. Topic: How to give Charity. 

Questions: Now that we know as much as possible 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 113 

about our poor family, what must we do for them that 
they may retain their self-respect? Why must we try to 
obtain work for them? 

10. Topic: Happiness in giving Charity. 
Questions: How do you feel when you have been 

the means of helping one of these poor people with 
work? Do you not think less of self and more of 
others? 

11. Topic: Modesty in Charity. 

Questions: "Let not thy left hand know what thy right 
hand doeth." Explain this quotation. Should we let 
others know what we give? Why not? 

12. Topic: Modesty in Charity. 

Questions: Why is it unkind to the poor to let others 
know what we give? Why would some people rather 
starve than ask charity? Then why are these the 
people who most deserve our help? Why should we 
always try to put ourselves in the place of these poor 
people? 

13. Topic: Modesty in Charity. 

Questions: Do you not feel very happy when you have 
helped some one poor and needy, and kept it all to your- 
self? What do you think of the boy or girl who gives 
something and then brags about it? 

14. Topic : Happiness derived from giving Charity. 
Questions: Could you enjoy yourself, knowing that a 

poor boy was starving and it was in your power to help 
him? Why not? How much greater would your enjoy- 
ment be if you took the time from your play to look after 
this boy's welfare? 

15. Topic: Charity a Strengthener of Character. 
Questions: How do our sympathy and familiarity with 

the sufferings of others make us stronger and better able 



114 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

to control ourselves and bear pain when trouble comes 
to us? 

16. Topic: Chakity a Strengthener of Character. 
Questions: There are two boys; the one has never seen 

poverty in any form, the other has interested himself in 
two or three poor families and tried to help them. The 
fathers of these boys have been thrown out of employ- 
ment. They cannot have so many things as before, — 
no new clothes, perhaps less food. Which boy is 
better able to get along under these new conditions? 
Why? 

Quotation: "Sympathy doubles our joys and halves our 
sorrows." 

17. Topic: Reward of Charity. 

Questions: Do you expect to be rewarded for doing 
deeds of charity? Why not? Why would it not be 
charity if you received a reward? Does not your real 
reward come in the happiness you bring to others? 

18. Topic: People who have been Charitable. 
Questions: Name some people who have done a great 

deal of good through their charity. Name one person 
who gave up a life of luxury to live with the poor that 
she might be better able to help them. 

19. Will you not try to find some poor family who 
needs your aid? What will you try to do for them? 

20. Quotation: 

" Think not the good, 
The gentle deeds of mercy thou hast done 
Shall die forgotten all : the poor, the prisoner 
The fatherless, the friendless, and the widow, 
Who daily own the bounty of thy hand, 
Shall cry to heaven, and pull a blessing on thee." 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 115 

11. HOME; PARENTS 

1. " Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." 
Who wrote it? Why? The only home he knew was in 
a house still standing at Easthampton, Long Island. 

2. What makes a home? What is the difference be- 
tween living at home and in a boarding house or hotel? 
Which do you prefer? 

3. When you think of home, whom do you think of 
first? Why does your mother seem to be the center of 
the home? "What is home without a mother?" 

4. What is the difference between mother and a ser- 
vant? How much pay does mother get? How many 
hours does she work? Why does she work for nothing? 

5. What do you do to help make the home happy? 
Did you know you were a sort of partner in the family? 
In business, what must partners do? 

6. How can you help your mother? What can boys 
do? What can girls do? Why do boys not like to wash 
dishes? Are they afraid of being laughed at? Is that 
brave? 

7. Who generally pays the rent? The grocer, etc.? 
Why does he? Often it takes all that father can earn to 
keep the family, and he works patiently year after year, 
with no money saved. Why does he not complain? 

8. How can you make father's work easier? Can you 
be more careful of your clothing? Did you ever know of 
father and mother doing without that children might 
have something? Ought we to let them do this? Why? 

9. Do our parents expect us ever to pay them? How 
can we show them that we appreciate their toil and self- 
denial now? In the future? 

10. Why do your parents want you at home as soon 



116 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

as it grows dark? Why will they not permit you to go 
out after supper? It is said that evil hates the light. 
Why is there danger of hurting your character on the 
street after dark? 

11. What do you do in the evening? How can you 
help others as well as yourself to have a pleasant evening? 
After lessons, music, games, making things, reading. Which 
do you like best? 

12. Do you ever tell your parents that you like your 
home? Can you make something to make it beautiful? 
Boys can make things in the workshop, girls can em- 
broider or stencil cushions, scarfs, curtains. 

13. How can you older boys and girls help the younger 
ones? When they are cross and mother is ill, how can 
you make mother look brighter? What about grand- 
parents? Why should we respect them? 

14. Birthdays and Holidays. How can you keep them 
so as to make everybody happy? What have you learned 
about giving and receiving gifts? 

15. "Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days 
may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth 
thee." How can you honor them? 

12. RESPECT 

1. Topic: Self-respect. 

Questions: What is your real self? What is self-respect? 
What is the difference between self-respect and self-con- 
ceit? See dictionary. 

2. Why are one's honor and self-respect nearly the 
same? Have you too much respect for your real self to 
do a mean thing? If we want others to respect us, how 
should we respect ourselves? 



MORALS : TOPIC AND OUTLINE 117 

3. Topic: Respect to Parents. 

Questions: Why respect parents? How can we show 
our respect? When we do wrong, how are our parents 
disgraced? 

4. Topic: Nations who worship Ancestors. 

What nation in Asia worships ancestors? How old 
is that nation? Tell about the burial places in 
China. 

5. Topic: Respect for those in Authority. 
Questions: By whom are governors, mayors, etc., elected? 

Why? Who makes the laws? Why then should we re- 
spect all these who are placed over us? 

6. Topic: Respect for Officers of School Republic. 
How about our school president, governors, etc.? Who 

elects them? In whose place do they stand? How can 
we show them respect? 

7. Topic: Respect for Laws, Rules, etc. 

Who makes the laws? Why are laws made in the city, 
state, etc.? Give one or two such laws. 

8. Topic: Disobedience Offense to Self. 

If we disobey laws, whom do we offend? If nobody 
obeyed the laws, what would be the condition of the city, 
state, and nation? 

9. Topic: Respect for the Flag. 

Questions: What does the flag stand for? What do the 
colors represent? Why are you proud of your flag? 
When is Flag Day? Why? Why is it unpatriotic to turn 
the flag upside down? 

10. Topic: Respect and Love for Nature. 
Questions: Of what use are trees? Why will not the 

park department permit even owners to trim trees on 
the street? 

11. Why were flowers made so beautiful? Why do we 



118 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

have trees and flowers and plants and bushes about our 
school? Who is John Burroughs? 

12. Topic: Respect for Sacred Things. 
Questions: Why is it mean and low to swear? Why is 

it wrong to shout around a church during services? What 
should we do when a funeral is taking place? 

13. Why should we never speak disrespectfully of an- 
other's religion? 

14. Topic: Respect for Older People. 
Questions: How do you like others to treat your parents? 

Why? How shall we treat the parents of others? How 
can we show respect for all old people? 

15. Topic: Respect for Public Property. 
Questions: Who owns and pays for the street lamps, 

parks, and public buildings? Who is injured when they 
are injured? Why is it against the law to pick flowers or 
to injure shrubs? 

16. Topic: Respect for the Rights of Others. 
Questions: Mention some instances where we cannot do 

as we please, because it would interfere with the rights of 
others. What does the Constitution say everybody has a 
right to? 

17. Topic : Respect for the Rights of our Younger 
Brothers and Sisters. 

Questions: Why have our younger brothers and sisters 
a right to our care and assistance? What about taking 
their candy and other property? What about teasing 
them? Why must we not make them afraid of us? Why 
should we set them a good example? 

18. Topic: Respect for the Rights of those who 
serve Us. 

Questions: Have you a servant or working woman at 
home? Have they any rights? How can you show re- 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 119 

spect for them? Tell the story of a faithful black 
mammy. 

19. Topic: Respect for People in Public Places. 
Questions: Why is it wrong to talk boisterously in a 

crowded car? Why is it better to avoid pushing for the 
best or first seat in a crowd? A boy once went into a 
store where there were customers, and began whistling, 
when the clerk invited him to go outside. Why? 

20. Topic: Respect for the Rights of Neighbors 
and those living in apartments. 

Questions: Why is it wrong to play on the steps and 
stoops of other people? How should we go through the 
halls of apartment houses? If your mother were ill, 
would you like the children in the apartment above to 
play leapfrog, or to jump the rope? 

21. Topic: Respect for the Feelings of Unfor- 
tunates. 

Questions: When you see a badly deformed person, 
why should you not stare at him? A little boy was lead- 
ing a drunken father home, when some of our knightly 
boys came along. What did they do? 

22. Topic: Respect for Ministers, Priests, Rab- 
bis, AND ALL WHO. ARE TRYING TO UPLIFT Us. 

Questions: Why respect them? How? Who besides 
the three mentioned are working to help our real selves? 
What is your real self? There was a law in ancient Rome 
that the ungrateful should be put to death. Why? 

23. Topic: Respect for the Opinion of Others. 
Questions: Why do not all people think alike? In your 

history, who were persecuted for their opinions? What is 
said of this persecution? Are there good Republicans? 
Are there good Democrats? Even the worst people have 
some virtues. Give an example. 



120 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

24. Topic: Respectability. 

Questions: We say a boy or a girl is highly respectable; 
what do we mean? Why should girls be particularly 
careful to be modest, ladylike, not forward or boisterous? 
Why should a boy be careful of his conduct? Do you 
add to the respectability of your family? 

25. Topic: Respect to the Memory of the Brave 
Soldiers. 

Questions: Why do we keep Decoration Day? When 
the soldiers enlisted, what reward did they expect? How 
many were killed on each side? What did the Union sol- 
diers do for you and me? How do you know old soldiers 
now? (Button.) How can we honor the dead soldiers, 
and the living? 

13. CLEANLINESS 
"CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS" 

1. Topic: — Porosity of Skin. 

Look at your skin through a magnifying glass. What 
do you see? How many pores are there in the skin over 
the whole body? See encyclopaedia. Why are they 
there? Suppose you make air tight your house, what 
happens? If you have a cold, pores are closed. Where 
goes the refuse matter? 

2. Topic: Porosity of Lungs. 

The lungs also are full of pores and must have clean air. 
Why are boys healthier in summer? Swimming and out- 
door air! How often do you take an all-over bath? Do 
you sleep with windows open? Why? 

3. Topic: Necessity for Clean Clothing. 
Perspiration comes from the pores. Why is it neces- 
sary to change underclothing frequently ? Why do people 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 121 

move away from those who have a bad odor coming from 
uncleanliness? 

4. Topic: Clothing and Self-respect. 

How do you feel towards yourself, when your clothing 
is neat and tidy? Do not overdress like a doll or Little 
Lord Fauntleroy. Jewelry is not becoming to children or 
young girls or men. 

5. Topic: Delicacy of Body. 

Think of your body as the House Wonderful wherein 
dwells your real self. What sort of house would you like 
to live in? Or liken your body to a watch, with wheels and 
springs more delicate than the smallest watch ever made. 
How should you guard your body? 

6. Topic: Necessity for Clean Nails. 

If you do not keep your nails clean, what gets under 
them? Where does it come from? If you scratch a sore 
with black finger nails, blood poisoning may occur. Are 
your nails in mourning? 

7. Topic: Clean Teeth. 

When you eat meat or other food, where ought it to go to 
make blood? What happens to the particles that lodge 
in the teeth? What makes your breath smell after eating 
onions? What are brooms, brushes, and mops for? How 
often should we use a toothbrush? 

8. Topic: Neatness of Footwear. 

Did you ever stop to think what touches your shoes? 
Are there any disease germs? Why does a gentleman keep 
his shoes polished? Is there any girl who likes to go with 
buttons off her shoes? 

9. Topic: Purity of Mind. 

" To the pure, all things are pure." You will learn or 
have learned that you become what you think. 

Review: If your thoughts are clean, what is in your mind? 



122 SYSTEMATIC iMORAL EDUCATION 

If you continue to think clean, pure thoughts, what will 
your real self be? 

10. Topic: Relation of Clean Thoughts and 
Healthy Bodies. 

Many believe that our thoughts affect our bodies. If 
we have clean, wholesome, joyous, loving thoughts, 
our health will be better. What do you think about this? 
Why is it a good thing for a boy to have a " Hobby"? 
What is your " Hobby," stamp collecting? 

11. Topic: Clean Companions. 

Why are tidy, self-respecting boys, with clean thoughts 
and words, who enjoy healthful sports, sought after as com- 
panions? Why are athletics in moderation good for all? 

12. Topic : Clean Clothing. 

A clean collar, a necktie, a fresh handkerchief, well- 
brushed clothing, polished shoes, — why are these neces- 
sary? 

13. Topic: Clean Surroundings. 

Is our class room clean? Are blackboards kept washed, 
desks in order, books covered? 

14. Topic: Personal Care of Clothing. 

Who puts away your clothing at home? Are your 
bureau drawers in order? Why ought you to care for this, 
and not leave it to mother? Do you hang up your clothing? 

15. Topic: Clean Tools. Clean Work. 

Have you a long, sharp pencil, a fresh pen, an eraser, 
and a blotter? Why are they necessary in school work? 
Are your home-work papers models of neatness? 

16. Topic: Cultivation of Habits of Cleanliness. 
What virtuous habits are cultivated by making lesson 

books and ethics books perfect in form, with here and 
there a bit of red ink? Are you proud of your books? 

17. Topic: Clean Books. 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 123 

Why is the principal so particular about having your 
books muslin covered, with labels inside and out? Why 
must you have a portfolio? Can you mend your own 
books? 

18. Topic: Sanitation. 

Why must the janitor wash all walls, woodwork, and 
desks twice a year at least? What are microbes? Where 
do they settle? 

19. What are sanitary laws or ordinances? Name some. 
Why wash milk bottles? Do you help to keep the street 
clean? How can you? 

20. Some one has said that next to a clear conscience 
is the satisfaction that comes from being clean and neatly 
dressed. (Explain.) What has personal cleanliness to do 
with self-respect? 

21. A clean, strong body, a clear conscience, a strong 
mind, a pure, warm heart make up a big part of the real 
self. Do you honestly desire these? Are you doing your 
best to have these? 

14. AMIABILITY 

1. Topic: General Amiability. 

Questions: What is amiability? Amiability is only 
another word for good nature. Why does every one love a 
sweet-tempered person? 

2. Topic : Amiability at Home. 

Questions: Why should we make a special effort to be 
amiable at home? Should we be good-natured only when 
we feel like it? 

3. When mother asks you to take care of the baby or run 
an errand for her, and you don't want to do it, what should 
you try to show? Does it not help her just to know you 
are always glad and ready to help her? 



124 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

4. If, when doing your home lessons, you are interrupted 
by a request to do something for mother or father, should 
you grumble and look sour? Or if when playing you are 
called in to practice or study, how ought you to go? 

5. On days when mother has lots to do, and baby is 
cross, how will your being good-natured help her ? Can- 
not you smile and make baby less troublesome? 

6. Topic: Amiability with Companions. 
Questions: What kind of children do you like to play 

with? Good-natured ones? When games don't go just 
your way, how can you show your amiability? 

7. What kind of children are chosen as leaders in your 
games? Those who are cross and disagreeable, or those 
who are sunny and sweet-tempered? 

8. Topic: Amiability when Sick. 

There are many times when we don't feel just well. Is 
that an excuse for us to be irritable and ill-tempered? 
When mother wants us to take medicine we do not like, 
how shall we act? 

9. When we feel sick, if we try to keep good-natured, 
will it help us to get better? It is hard for the home folks 
when we are ill. Shall we make it easier for them by keep- 
ing lovable and amiable? 

10. Topic: Amiability at School. 

Sometimes the examples or the spelling words seem 
hard; shall we sulk if we cannot get them at once? 
Which is pleasanter to have, a sweet-tempered or a 
crabbed classmate? 

11. How does one ill-natured child affect the whole class? 
Can you make your teacher's work easier by being amiable? 

12. Topic: Amiability when Everything goes 
Wrong. 

Why does Ella Wheeler Wilcox say, 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 125 

" It's easy enough to be pleasant, 
When life flows along like a song; 
But the man worth while 
Is the one who can smile 
When everything goes dead wrong." 

13. No one deserves credit for being amiable when things 
are going just as he wants them to. Can you show sweet- 
temper "When everything goes dead wrong" ? 

14. When some one else is chosen for a place you wanted, 
when some one else comes out ahead of you, how does a 
sweet temper show itself? When some one wins a race you 
are trying to win, how can you show you are truly amiable? 

15. Topic: Amiability Contagious. « 
Did you know that amiability is contagious? What do 

we mean by contagious? Did you know that it is impos- 
sible to remain ill-natured long when every one around is 
amiable? 

16. Let us not be so selfish and saving that we try to get 
all we can and keep all we get. 

What I saved I lost, 
What I spent I had, 
What I gave I have. 

— Old German Proverb. 

17. Shall we try each day to be so amiable that people 
will catch this lovable trait from us? Do our associates 
think that we are desirable companions because of our 
habitual amiability? 

18. Topic: Amiability a Habit. 

That which we practice enough becomes second nature 
to us. How can we cultivate the habit of being amiable? 
If you always go to breakfast with a smile and feel sweet- 
tempered, you will find yourself carrying this spirit all 
through the day. 



126 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

19. Every time we keep good-natured when we feel cross, 
it is easier to be amiable the next time. Are you cultivating 
this beautiful habit? 

20. William E. Gladstone was once asked, "What is 
the most beautiful characteristic for a person to possess 
aside from the cardinal virtues?" He answered, without 
hesitation, ' ' Amiability. ' ' Why did he consider this trait so 
desirable? 

21. Topic: Amiability in Business. 

Which gets along better, a good-natured storekeeper 
or one who snaps his customers up with a cross word? 
Will an employer get better work from his men if he is 
amiable with them instead of being cross? 

22. When we go into a shop should we get out of patience 
with the salespeople if we are not waited upon at once? 
Do they not feel more like pleasing us if we are good- 
natured? 

23. Work is easier and one works faster if one is amiable. 
If you have a hard, disagreeable task to perform, smile, and 
go about it good-naturedly as if you liked it. Did you 
ever hear the saying that "Smiles help the wheels of life"? 
What does this mean? 

24. Topic : Amiability is its own Reward. 

Every one loves an amiable person. When we go to bed 
at night, does it not make us happier to look back on a day 
that has been sunny and bright, made so by our own efforts 
to be amiable under even the most trying circumstances? 

25. Very near General Grant's Monument is a small 
grave all alone in a small inclosure, and the stone bears the 
simple inscription "Erected to the memory of an amiable 
child." This grave has not been disturbed, and every 
passer-by reads the words. Is it not lovely to be remem- 
bered as always being amiable? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 127 

15. CHEERFULNESS 
ADVANCED 

1. Analyze the word cheerful ness. When a cup is full, 
why can you pour no more into it? 

2. What is the opposite of cheer? Do not think of it 
long lest you lose cheer. Think of something happy, and 
you are happier. 

3. When are you more cheerful, in the morning, or 
in the evening? Why? Begin every morning as a new 
day, forgetting all about yesterday. 

4. When you lie down to sleep, cast out all thoughts 
of anger, fear, hate, sorrow, and fill your heart full to over- 
flowing of cheer. Why? 

5. What kind of salesman or storekeeper do you like to 
deal with, a grouty or cheery one? Why? What kind 
would you be? 

6. "The best doctors in the world are Dr. Diet, Dr. 
Quiet, and Dr. Merryman." Explain. " Laugh and 
grow fat." 

7. Sunshine is necessary for plants. Are you sunny 
and cheerful that others about you may grow so? 

8. Why pout when denied a request? Babies some- 
times lie down on the floor and kick and scream when 
denied a request. Why babies? 

9. King Edward required that boys entering the marine 
service should be cheerful. They say sailors like to sing. 
Why all this? 

10. "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver." Why is it 
better to give cheerfully than grudgingly? 

11. Who wears the "smile that wont come off"? Try 
to smile when you say or do anything for another. 

12. Cheerfulness in Pain. Tell the story of Smiling 



128 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Joe, tied to a board and suffering pain. Even Theodore 
Roosevelt wiped his eyes after talking to him a half hour. 

13. Cheerfulness in doing unpleasant things is best. 
How can you be more cheerful, then? 

14. Why are you more cheerful when trying to make 
others happy? 

15. Who are more cheerful, boys or girls? Prove it. 
Boys will remember to be gallant. Is giggling cheerful- 
ness? 

16. Laughter is of two kinds, that of joy and that of 
fun making. Why should we avoid the latter? 

17. What sort of boy makes the better office boy, a 
bright or a sour-faced one? 

Why do employers like cheerful stenographers and clerks ? 

18. How can you make the class cheerful? How can 
you make the teacher cheerful? 

19. How can you make mother cheerful? How can you 
make the home more cheerful? 

20. Did you ever know a real wicked person to be cheer- 
ful? 

21. "Smiles are gold, frowns are lead." Explain. 

22. Cheerfulness at Play. Why do you like a cheer- 
ful playmate? 

16. COURTESY 

"Courtesy is to do and say 
The kindest things in the kindest way." 

" Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do 
unto you, do ye even so unto them." — Golden Rule. 

1. Why is the above called the golden rule? What 
is meant by a precious metal? Gold, yellow sunshine, are 
they cheerful or gloomy? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 129 

2. Courtesy is said to be like oil; it makes machinery 
run lightly and removes friction. Explain this in a few 
words. 

3. Where should courtesy begin? When? Do you 
ever say good morning to your parents? Why do you say 
good night? What do you think of yourself, when you 
forget to say thank you for favors done at home? 

4. Should brothers and sisters show courtesy to one 
another? Why? Have you grandparents? Why show 
them courtesy? 

5. How can you show courtesy when you enter the class 
room? When you leave? Why will teachers and pupils 
respect one another more and be happier if courtesy is 
shown by all? What effect will it have upon your 
studies? 

6. Hereafter kindly write your own excuses and have 
your parents sign them. How can you make them courte- 
ous in tone? Why does the principal always answer a 
polite note? 

7. Courtesy on the Street. Why do the boys of this 
school always tip their caps to the teachers on the street? 
What is the rule about passing another on the sidewalk? 
Why do gentlemen always tip their hats to ladies? How 
did knights show their gallantry? 

8. Why is it impolite for big girls to stop and talk on 
street corners? Why do boys not like silly girls to talk 
to them on the street? 

9. Why is it impolite to laugh boisterously and talk 
loudly on the street? Is it wrong for little boys and girls 
to play on the street? Would you like to see your teachers 
play tag on the street? Why? 

10. How can we show courtesy when we know there is 
sickness in a house? 



130 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Why is it wrong to gather in crowds in front of a home 
where there is a funeral? 

11. Courtesy in a Store. When there are three or 
four customers waiting, which one does the clerk wait upon 
first? Why is it impolite to whistle in a store? Why 
does a mother tell her daughter not to be familiar or noisy 
when she goes to the store? 

12. Courtesy in the Cars. Why do boys and girls like 
to write compositions about a boy who got up and gave his 
seat to an old lady? What kind of conductors do you 
like? What kind of passengers do conductors like? 

13. Courtesy in Places of Public Worship. Why 
bow the head or knees when prayers are said? Why not 
talk and laugh? 

Why not play around a church during worship? 

14. Courtesy at Places of Amusement. Why are 
ladies asked to remove their hats? Why is it wrong to talk 
or laugh during a performance? Why not chew gum? 
Why be agreeable? 

17. COMPANIONS 

1. Who was your earliest and best companion? Is she 
that now? Why? Does she ever long for your companion- 
ship? How can you give it? 

2. Which of you makes a companion of your father? 
Why or why not? What do you tell a companion? Why 
not confide everything to father and mother? 

3. Do you choose your companions or "pick them up"? 
What do you look for in a companion? Why should we be 
careful of companions? 

4. How do companions influence us? How do we in- 
fluence our companions? Should our companions rule us? 
Why not? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE^ 131 

5. Boys ought not to go with older boys. Why? 
Girls should seek companions of their own age and tastes. 
Why? . 

6. How can you avoid undesirable companions and not 
offend them? Be careful not to be " stuck up." If a 
companion is doing you harm, why keep him? Rarely can 
you help him. 

7. Why is it desirable to have some companions? 
What is often the matter with a boy who has no com- 
panions? Why cannot selfish boys and girls keep com- 
panions? 

8. There is a companion who always goes with you, and 
speaks to you when you are tempted. What is it? What 
does it say? How should you treat it? 

9. Our thoughts are our constant companions. Are 
yours desirable? Do they ever influence us for evil? 
How shall we conquer them? 

10. Books are companions. Name some that you found 
jolly or interesting companions. What of a boy or girl 
who never has such companions? 

11. Some boys and girls can entertain themselves on 
rainy days, or when alone. How do they do it? Can you? 
Have a sensible hobby. Why? 

12. What should companions talk about? What about 
gossip? What about subjects they would be ashamed to 
have their parents know about? Why? 

13. Read the story of David and Jonathan in the Bible 
or Philemon and Baucis in Greek stories. 

14. What should one companion do for another? How 
may they help each other? Do you know of two boys or 
two girls who are chums? Who is your chum? 

15. "It is better to be alone than in bad company." 
Discuss. 



132 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

16. Describe a popular boy or girl. What makes such a 
one popular? With what kind of companions is he popu- 
lar? 

17. Are you a good companion to somebody? Prove it. 
If your companionship is not sought, whose fault is it? 
Why? 

18. "A person is known by the company he keeps." 
Discuss. 

18. FRIENDSHIP 
1. 

" When you find one good and true, 
Change not the old friend for the new." 

2. Who is your very best friend? Are you sure? Why? 

3. If your best friend is your mother, how ought you 
to prove your friendship to her? In what acts can you 
prove it? 

4. Who is your best school friend? How do you know 
it? Why do you value that friend? 

5. What is the difference between selfish and unselfish 
friendship? Give an example of the latter. 

6. Do you select your friends, or do they select you? 
What kinds of friends ought one to select? Why? 

7. How ought we to treat our friends? How do we 
expect them to treat us? When they disappoint us, 
what should we do? 

8. Misunderstandings sometimes break friendships. 
How can we avoid these? 

9. How can you know true from false friends? What 
is a true friend? Why can you not dist r nguish the true 
friend immediately? 

10. If a friend is doing us harm, is he a true friend? 
What should we do? Have you such friends? Are you 
such a friend? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 133 

11. What is the good of having friends? Is that a 
selfish or unselfish reason? Selfish friendship soon turns 
to hatred. 

12. Why do you pity a person who has no real friends? 
Whose fault is it? Why? 

13. What is the difference between real friends, and 
mere acquaintances? Which are yours? Why are all 
those we know not necessarily our friends? 

14. Is it possible to have too many so-called friends? 
Why do you not have the greatest confidence in one who 
makes a new friend every day? 

15. Being friendly does not mean to make intimate 
friends of everybody. Why is it good to be friendly with 
everybody? Why have only a few intimate friends? 

16. How can we befriend the friendless? A new pupil 
feels shy. Why? How can you befriend him or her? 

17. "A friend in need is a friend indeed." 

How can you test true friends? What has honor to do 
with friendship? 

18. What is the antonym of friend? What shall we 
do with such? 

"If thine enemy hunger, feed him." 
Try not to make enemies. 

19. What are the friends of your real self? What are 
your enemies? Why are they enemies? 

19. HONOR 
PRIMARY 

1. When a little child is tempted to do wrong, what is 
that something inside of him which speaks to him ? Con- 
science. 



134 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

2. Why does conscience speak to us? Is it a friend or an 
enemy? 

3. If a doctor should tell us not to eat something because 
it would poison us, would we mind? 

4. Are you honest because it pays or because you 
feel better to be honest? 

5. Quotation: 

" If honor be your clothing, it will last a lifetime, 
If clothing be your honor, it will soon be threadbare." 

6. Which do you like better, to be trusted or to be 
watched? Have you a great deal of honor? 

7. Why is it wrong to copy answers? Whom do you 
hurt the most? 

8. Can your class be trusted? How do you behave if 
your teacher stays at home? 

9. Does your mother trust you when she sends you 
to the store? Do you always bring back the right 
change? 

10. Quotation: "In doing the right thing there is 
both honor and pleasure." 

11. Who furnishes schoolbooks? Who pays for them? 
Does your father help? What would you think of a boy 
who destroyed his father's property? 

12. Shut your eyes. Look within. What do you see? 
An honorable person or not? 

13. What does your teacher think of you? Is she right? 
Don't you feel better when she can trust you? 

14. What is a promise? What do you think of a boy or 
girl who keeps his or her word? 

15. Quotation: Let teacher select. 

16. If a storekeeper gives us too much change, what 
shall we do? What do you want to satisfy? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 135 

17. Who is more respected, an honest or a dishonest store- 
keeper? 

18. Why do employers advertise for honest boys? 
Would your teacher give you a recommendation for 
honesty? 

19. "Who thinks for you? Can your teacher? Why do 
you want to be able to think? 

20. Quotation: "A good name is rather to be chosen 
than great riches." i 

21. For whom are you getting an education? Do you 
want it? Why? 

22. Can your father buy you an education as he can a 
new coat? Is it honorable to waste your time? 

23. How does a boy or a girl show that he or she is honor- 
able? What about his face and eyes? 

ADVANCED 

1. Topic: Conscience; what is it? 

Questions: When you are first tempted to do wrong, 
why do you hesitate? What speaks to you? Some one 
has said it is the voice of God speaking to us. If a doctor 
should tell you not to eat something because it would 
poison you, would you obey him? Why does conscience 
speak to us? Is it a friend or an enemy? 

2. Topic: Conscience and Honor. 

Questions: What is the difference between a person 
who does a thing because he fears to disobey, and one 
who does it because it is right? Why is this a bad motto, 
"Honesty is the best policy "? 

3. Topic: The Joy of being Trusted. 

Questions: Why do you not like to be watched? 
Can you be trusted? What are we trying to cultivate 



136 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

in our school? Are we learning to trust each other more? 
Which word do you like better, monitor or aid? Shall 
we act each day so as to deserve to be trusted? 

4. Topic: Honor in School. 

Questions: Why is it wrong to copy answers? Whom 
do you cheat most? When you are tempted, what can you 
say? Which would you like best, to be trusted or to be 
watched? Why do you not like to be watched? What 
would you do if I had to stay at home? 

5. Topic: Honor in School. 

Questions: Let pupils give some examples of honor. 

6. Topic: Care of the School Property. 
Questions: Who furnishes the schoolbooks ? Who pays 

for them? Does your father help? What would you 
think of a boy who destroyed his father's property? How 
can we take care of our books? Why do we have port- 
folios? It is well for the members of the council to see to 
the mending of books, etc. 

7. Topic: Honor to One's Self. 

Questions : Shut your eyes. Look within. What do 
you see, an honorable person or not? What would you 
like to be? What do others think of you? Are they right? 
How can you prove that you are honest when others say 
you are not? 

8. Topics: Keeping One's Word. 

Questions: What is a promise? What do you think of a 
boy or girl who keeps his or her word? After we give our 
word, how far should we go to keep it? Why did knights 
of old die to keep their pledge? Tell some simple story from 
history. 

9. Topic: Honor in Business. 

Questions: If a storekeeper gives us too much change, 
what shall we do? What do we want to satisfy? Should we 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 137 

keep it? Whose honor would be injured? Why can we not 
afford to hurt our honor? Who is most respected, an honest 
merchant, or a dishonest one? Why do employers ad- 
vertise for honest boys? Would your teacher give you 
a recommendation for honesty? 

10. Topic: Self-responsibility. 

Questions: Who eats your dinner for you? Why does 
not your mother? Why do you eat? Who thinks for you? 
Cannot I? Why do you want to be able to think? Does 
your mother pay you for eating? 

11. Topic: Self-responsibility. 

Questions: For whom are you getting an education? 
Do you want it? Why? Can your father buy you an edu- 
cation as he would a new hat? If you do not have one, who 
suffers? If you put your hand in the fire, who suffers? 
Who is to blame? If your body becomes your master and 
makes you do bad things, who suffers? 

12. Topic: Ability to depend upon One's Honor. 
Quotation: 

If you were born to honor, show it now. 
If put upon you, make that judgment good 
That thought you worthy of it. 

— Shake speake. 

13. Topic: Satisfaction of being Trusted. 
Quotation: 

Who steals my purse, steals trash; 

But he who niches from me my good name 
Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
And makes me poor indeed. 

— Shakespeare. 

Questions: Which would you prefer, to be trusted or 
to be doubted? Why? Are you to be trusted? Do you 



I 138 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

want to be? How do we gain the confidence of others? 
How does a person show that he is honorable? What 
about his face? What about his bearing? Do you like 
honorable and honest people? 

14. Topic: Knightly Honor. 

Questions: Does it exist to-day? Let pupils discuss 
topic. 

Better to die ten thousand deaths, than wound mine honor. 

— Addison. 

15. Topic: Character, Reputation. 
(Synonyms. Show difference of meaning.) 
Quotation: "A good name is rather to be chosen than 

great riches." 

" It is a worthier thing to deserve honor than to possess 
it." 

16. Topic: Honor is the Keynote op Self-govern- 
ment. 

Questions: What is the difference between a subject of 
the Sultan of Turkey and a citizen of the United States? 

17. Topic: For the Sake of One's Honor. 
Quotation: 

Do always the thing that seemeth to thee right, 
Knowing by this thou keep'st thine honor bright. 

— Thomas a. Kempis. 

18. Topic: Truth Telling. 

Questions: Who is injured most by a lie? Why is it 
bad to get into a habit of deceiving? Do you like to tell the 
exact truth? There is no such thing as a white lie. 

19. Topic: Truth Telling. 

Questions: What is a hypocrite? Why would you 
prefer to be anything rather than a hypocrite? 

20. Topic: Honor in doing Good Work. 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 139 

Questions: Who suffers for dishonest home work or 
written work? What would you think of yourself if you 
copied answers or cheated? 

21. Topic: Honok of our Heroes. 

Questions: Name some people in history who scorned to 
do anything dishonorable. Do you know of any person in 
history who sold his honor? Which do you honestly 
value more, honor or pleasure? Have you learned to 
value honor highly this month? 

20. FAIR PLAY 

RIGHTS OF PARENTS 

1. To your respect and love. Why? 

2. To your ready and cheerful obedience. 

3. To your service without pay. What can you do? 

4. To the care of your clothing. Put away, keep clean, 
etc. 

RIGHTS OF TEACHERS 

5. To your courtesy and respect and obedience. 

6. To your cooperation in making the class and school 
the best possible. 

7. To honesty in the preparation of school work. 

8. To punctual and regular attendance. 

9. To obliging and helpful ways. 

RIGHTS OF BROTHERS, SISTERS, NEIGHBORS, ETC. 

10.|Brothers and sisters at home. Old and the young. 

11. To fair play. Who likes a cheat? Snowballing 
little folks. 

12. Strangers in public places. Get in line. Sidewalk, 
postman, garbage man, etc. 



140 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

13. Neighbors. Front stoops. Noise in halls of flats, etc. 

14. Sick people. Quiet. Kindness. Do not shout in 
front of sick rooms. 

MY EIGHTS 

15. To life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

16. To be alone at times and to be let alone. 

17. Not to be touched and pushed. Japanese never 
touch one another. 

18. To playtime. To be free, so long as it does not 
interfere with others. 

19. To my own property. But I must not be selfish. 

20. To be treated with respect so long as I deserve it. 
To ask reasonable questions. 

RIGHTS OF STRANGERS 

21. Rights of people on the street. Do not call after 
any one. 

21. COURAGE 

PRIMARY 

1. Topic: Fear of Darkness. 

Are you afraid of the dark? Why? They say you have 
done something naughty when afraid of the dark. That 
is not true of you, is it? 

2. Why it it wrong to frighten children when little? 
Is it honest? 

3. Topic: Patience during Pain. 

Can you stand a toothache? Are you brave enough to 
go to the dentist? 

4. Why do you not cry for every little thing? Who cry 
that way? Let us not laugh at a cry baby. 

5. Be patient and you will be brave. Why is your 
mother so patient? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 141 

6. Topic: Moral Courage. 

Who of you is brave enough to do right when others 
are doing wrong? Make up a little story. > 

7. Can you say "no" when others tempt you to do 
wrong? Why is it hard to do so? 

8. Sometimes we do the right and yet suffer blame. 
Why is courage then necessary? 

9. What is a mollycoddle? Are you one? Why would 
others dislike you if you were? 

10. When you do a right thing, and others try to change 
you, why not change and do wrong? 

11. A bully is not brave; he is generally a coward. 
Why do you not want to injure or threaten a little fellow 
or maiden? 

12. If you cannot do a thing right the first time, why 
have courage to try, try again? 

13. "The bravest are the tenderest, — The loving are 
the daring." Can you explain this? 

14. A boy dared another boy to run in front of a car. 
The second boy would not be dared, and was hurt. Why 
was neither one brave? 

15. Which is braver, not to lose your temper when an- 
other calls you names, or to call names yourself, and per- 
haps fight? 

16. Courage does not mean being forward. Why? 
Why is a modest, sensible boy or girl liked? 

ADVANCED 

1. Cour age. Cceur, French, means heart. 

Age means having, or state of being. 
Have you a brave heart? Who was Richard Cceur de 
Lion? 



142 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

2. Who are braver boys or girls? Will boys prove 
that girls are braver? Will girls prove that boys are braver? 

3. Why does it sometimes require more courage to 
stand a pain than do a brave deed quickly? 

4. Patience is a twin sister of bravery. Why is your 
mother so patient and so brave when you are in danger? 

5. Who of you are brave enough to do right when 
others around you are doing wrong? Can you make up 
a story? 

6. Why does it take all your courage to say "no" when 
"yes" would be easy? When have you seen a boy or girl 
show such courage? 

7. It takes courage to keep on doing right while others 
are laughing at us. When have you done right? 

8. What is a mollycoddle? Does it take much courage 
to be one? Why? 

9. Why is it not brave for three or four to try to get 
the better of one? Why does a generous person sympathize 
with the weak? 

10. A bully is generally a coward. Why? A strong 
boy attacking a weak boy, a bright girl making fun of a 
dull girl, are not brave. Why? 

11. Courage in Defeat. Can you tell a good story? 
Robert Bruce and the spider. 

12. "The bravest are the tenderest, 

The loving are the daring." Explain. 

13. Why is it not brave to do a thing because another 
dares you? Foolhardiness is not bravery. Explain. 

14. Which is easier, to be insulted, and not resent it, 
or to return the insult? Which is braver? Which is 
right? 

15. Were you ever called upon to say a thing was right, 
when every one present opposed you? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 143 

22. WORK 
PRIMARY 

1. Every little child who is well, likes to work. Do 
you like to work? 

2. What is the difference between work and play? 

3. No one need be ashamed of any work. Some boys 
are ashamed to wash dishes for mother. Are you? 

4. Suppose your father did not work, what would be- 
come of you? 

5. Quotation: 

" Work while you work, and play while you play, 
For that is the way to be cheerful and gay." 

6. Ought we to work all the time? Why is father glad 
when Sunday comes? 

7. When we work we should do the best we know how. 
Is your home work neatly done? Are all your papers 
in school done as neatly as you know how to do them? 

8. We should love our work and not need some one 
to make us do it. A slave must have a master. 

9. Do not work because you expect pay. Who pays 
your mother? 

10. Quotation: "If a man work not, neither shall he 
eat." 

11. How can we make our school work better this term? 

12. Every one does some kind of work; some with 
their heads and some with their hands. What kind of 
work do you like? 

13. Lazy people are never as happy as those who work. 
Would you be well if you had no work to do? 

14. "Labor is its own reward." 



144 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

15. Do you help with the work at home? What can 
you do to help mother? 

16. Can a boy help at home? If you have a servant 
in the house, can you help her? 

17. Write a letter asking for work. 

18. Quotation. Teacher select one. 

ADVANCED 

1. Every healthy person works. 

Why do even little children like to keep busy? When 
any one does not busy himself with something, what do 
we say ails him? Are you well? Do you like to work? 
What work do you like best? Why must we sometimes 
do work we do not like? 

2. Nothing is so injurious as unoccupied time. 
Difference between work and play. What is the dif- 
ference between building a snow house and a real house? 
What is the difference between reading a storybook, and 
studying a history lesson? Play is an end in itself; work 
looks forward to some benefit to come. We amuse our- 
selves for the present, we work for the future. 

" Work while you work, play while you play, 
For that is the way to be cheerful and gay." 

3. Why is work necessary? 

4. Why do we have servants? If my body is my 
servant, what must it do for the real self? If your father 
does not work, what about you? 

If a man work not, neither shall he eat. — Bible. 

5. Different kinds of workers. 

Name some that you see around you. Do they pro- 
duce what you use? Who are the great workers for 
food? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 145 

Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise. 

— Bible. 

6. All honest work respectable. 
Tell the story of Robert Bruce baking cakes in the 
cottage of the Scotch woman, or some other story. Are 
boys ashamed to wash dishes? Why? Do you treat 
servants and poor workmen with respect? 
7. Quotation: 

" Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, 
Makes that and th' action fine." 

8. Quality of work counts. 

Do you do fine work? Are your home-work papers 
neatly done? Which would you rather wear, a coat or a 
dress half made, or one that is well made? What kind of 
workmen are paid best? How do you feel when you have 
finished a fine piece of work? "What is worth doing at 
all is worth doing well." 

9. Honest work is best. 

Why does it pay to do your own work and not copy? 
A builder once built a row of houses poorly, dishonestly. 
They collapsed, and many lives were lost. The builder's 
name became one of reproach. Can you think of some 
one in history who did honest work? Honest work is the 
only sure thing. "No one can rise who slights his work." 

10. Rest from work. 

Why is your father glad when Sunday comes? Should 
all workmen be allowed one day in seven in which to rest? 
What kind of work is permitted on Sunday? Who suffer 
when the stores are open on Sunday? Can we save the 
storekeepers by buying on Saturday? Why ought we 
not to study our lessons, or do home work on Sunday? 

11. "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for 
the sabbath." 



146 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

" Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days 
shall thou labor and do all thy work: But the seventh day 
is the sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not 
do any work." 

12. Work for love. 

What is the difference between a slave and a servant? 
What is the difference between your servant and your 
mother? Who pays your mother? Why does she keep 
on working? 

13. Memorize and say at home: 

" I ought to love my mother, 
She loved me long ago, 
There is on earth no other 
That ever loved me so. 
When a weak babe, much trial 
I caused her, and much care, 
For me no self-denial, 
Nor labor did she spare." 

14. Work for love of work. 

Look in dictionary for difference between an artist and 
an artisan. Why did Rosa Bonheur spend so much time 
on her paintings? Did Longfellow write for money? Do 
your teachers think of their salary when helping you? 

" Pleasure comes from toil and not by self-indulgence. 
When one gets to love his work, his life is a happy one." 

15. Work at home. 

Who does most of the work at home? When is your 
mother's work done? What can you do to help your 
mother? Can a boy help at home? If you have a servant, 
could you help her? Can you save her extra work? 
Bring in quotations. 

16. Composition. 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 147 

Application for a position, inclosing a letter of recom- 
mendation from your teacher. 
Three copies. 
Write something worth while. 

23. BUSINESS 
ADVANCED 

1. Topic: Ability. " Modest ambition is necessary 
for success." 

Questions: Why does your father dislike lazy workmen? 
Would you hire a slovenly worker? Why? What is a 
"bright" boy? Must he be forward? Can he afford to 
spend too much time at baseball, swimming, etc. Why? 

2. Topic: Industry. 

Questions: What is the best way to get a piece of work 
done? How should it be done? Is an office boy's work 
important? Would it be better to get to work a few 
minutes early than late? Is it always right to take exactly 
sixty minutes for your lunch hour? Which is better, 
"Watch your work," or "Watch your clock"? Which 
class of workers do business men prefer? 

3. Topic: Patience. 

Questions: Why should you stick at a hard problem? 
Is your first position usually a high-salaried one? Why? 
Can you learn a business in a day? A week or even a 
month? Does it pay to be patient? 

4. Topic: Economy. 

Questions: What is the difference between a saving boy 
and a selfish boy? Why does economy pay in business? 
How, as an office boy, could you save or economize 
for your employer? Why do business men systematize 
their work? 



118 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

5. Topic: Loyalty to Employer. 

Questions: Are you loyal to your school? Why? Should 
you be interested in your employer? Is he your friend? 
How much of your service is due him? Do you suppose 
business men are quick to notice loyalty? As a business 
man, would you appreciate a faithful workman? Have 
you a duty to perform aside from merely doing just enough 
work to earn your salary? Why is business honor worth 
more than money? 

6. Topic: Confidence. 

Questions: When do you come to school confident of 
passing a test? Is it not a good feeling to possess? Is 
"conceit" confidence? What is the difference? What 
makes a manufacturer confident that his articles are the 
best? How can you be sure of holding a good and re- 
sponsible position? 

7. Topic: Opportunity. 

Questions: What does the topic word mean? Emerson 
says, " Opportunity knocks but once at every man's door." 
Do you know when your chance is coming? Could you 
grasp it if you were unprepared? When should we stand 
prepared? 

8. Topic: Moral Life. 

Questions: Moral habits. Cheerfulness, courtesy, truth- 
fulness, courage, etc., are necessary in business life. 

Why are these necessary in business life? Tell the story 
of the success of the following men — Marshall Field, 
R. H. Macy, A. T. Stewart. 

9. Topic: Application of Ethics to Business. 
Questions: Why do we learn ethics in school? Is it 

enough to write about them? How often should they be 
practiced? What do business men mean by " credit"? 
Could a dishonest merchant get credit? Why? Can 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 149 

one expect credit [without practicing ethics in his busi- 
ness? 

10. Topic: Willingness to Learn. 

Questions: Why should all of us be willing to learn new 
good things? On what does your use in business depend? 
Who must learn these new things for you? How often 
ought we be willing to learn? Is it a disgrace to learn 
from those younger than ourselves? Teachers learn a 
great deal from scholars. 

24. PUNCTUALITY 

1. General Punctuality. 

What is meant by punctuality? Why is it a most 
desirable thing? 

2. Punctuality at Home. 

When we know the hour we should rise in the morning, 
why should we get up punctually at that time, and not 
wait ten or fifteen minutes after being called? What is 
meant by the saying "Procrastination is the thief of 
time"? 

3. Why should we always be at the breakfast table 
early, and not keep the others waiting? Isn't it a help 
to mother if all the family are ready to sit down to break- 
fast at the same time? 

4. Punctuality in School Affairs. 

Why should we always be at school a little before the 
bell rings? Why is it well to be in our places the instant 
the time to begin lessons comes? 

5. Does not the child who comes into the classroom 
late, not only disturb the early comers, but make them 
lose valuable time while he is getting his place, etc.? How 
can this be avoided? 



150 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

6. Punctuality in doing Home Work. 

If the home work must be done, why not get it done 
just when it should be, and not a day late? Why is it 
a good habit to have all the home work finished as early 
as possible? 

7. Punctuality in obeying the School Bells. 
When the bell rings either to summon us to the building 

or to change exercises, why should we obey the bell quickly? 
Is not confusion avoided by heeding the bell the instant 
it sounds? 

8. Punctuality in obeying Orders. 

When the teacher gives an order, why should it be 
obeyed at once? If one or two children delay obey- 
ing commands, what effect does it have on the whole 
class? 

9. It is wrong to waste the time of our classmates by 
delaying to obey orders, and one or two minutes wasted 
two or three times a day means hours in the course of a 
term. Why is it selfish to delay putting books away or 
taking out new materials for the new lessons? 

10. Punctuality in keeping Appointments. 

If we make an appointment, we should keep it to the 
minute. The story is told that the battle of Waterloo 
might have resulted differently, had one of Napoleon's 
generals had his regiment ready at the exact time that 
Napoleon told him to be ready for moving orders. Think 
what lack of punctuality meant that time! 

1 1 . Punctuality in attending Places of Amusement. 
When we are going to church or any place of amusement, 

why is it only fair to others to be in our seats before the 
service or the entertainment commences? Do you like 
to be interrupted during a concert by people coming in late? 
Why is tardiness selfish? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 151 

12. Punctuality in answering Correspondence. 
When we receive a letter which requires an immediate 

answer, why should we not delay writing? Tell a story 
of how one can be very much inconvenienced by some 
friend or business associate who is not punctual in the 
matter of correspondence. 

13. When we receive an invitation that requires a re- 
sponse, why should it be answered at once? 

14. When we are given a specific order, either at home, 
school, or in business, why should we obey at once? Tell 
a story of some consequences that might follow not carry- 
ing out an order at the time we are told to. 

15. Tell some stories of how punctuality has helped the 
world. What is meant by "Always being on time saves 
time" ? 

16. Once an errand boy in an office was told that he was 
expected to be on time punctually every morning. He 
was to be at the office at six a.m. Once there was a strike 
on the cars, and the lad, knowing that the cars would be 
delayed, walked five miles from his home, starting at four 
o'clock, before it was light, so as not to be late. He was 
promoted. Did he deserve it? Why? 

17. Why is punctuality in little things just as important 
as in the large affairs of life? Do you know that the habit 
of punctuality, like all others, cultivated early in life, 
becomes second nature? How is this so? 

18. What is meant by " Never put off till to-morrow 
what can be done to-day"? 

25. THRIFT 

1. Definition. Which is better, to save your pennies 
so as to get something, or to beg papa for it, or do with- 
out it? 



152 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

2. Topic: Source of Money. 

Does papa give you spending money, or do you have 
to earn it? What do you spend it for? Did you ever try 
to save it for something big? How can you save it? 

3. Topic: Dollar Savings Bank. 

What is a dime or dollar savings bank? How many 
of you would like to start a small bank account? How 
can you do it? Save pennies and nickels until you get 
a bank book. Would you like me to help you? 

4. Topic: Postal Savings Bank. 

Explain postal savings bank. Would such a system be 
good for boys and girls? 

5. Topic: Candy Money. 

How much do you spend for candy in a week? Multi- 
ply that by fifty-two ? Why? What have you to show 
for it at the end of the year? 

6. Topic: Book Money. 

How many books have you? Would you like to start 
a library? Boys can make a small bookcase in the shop. 
What books did Franklin and Lincoln have? 

7. Topic: Necessity for Thrift. 

Why should you learn to save money when you are 
young? What if your father should get out of work, or 
fail in business, or die? Would it not be good to have some 
money put away? 

8. Tell the story of some person who earned his educa- 
tion. Which was of most value, education, or pleasure, or 
money-spending? 

9. Topic: Thrift of Foreigners. 

What makes foreigners, when they first come to this 
country, so saving? 

10. It is said that Nature is economical. Give 
examples. 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 153 

11. Topic: Difference between Thrift and Stingi- 
ness. 

What is the difference between saving and being miserly 
and stingy? Can you be thrifty and yet honest and kind? 
Are the greatest spendthrifts most respected? Why? 

12. Topic : Saving for a Home. 

When you get big, which would you rather do, own your 
own home, or pay rent? Why do so many thrifty people 
live in the suburbs? There are reliable associations which 
help people to get their own homes. Explain Building 
and Loan Association. 

13. Topic: A Penny saved is a Penny Earned. 
How can you take care of your clothing so as to make 

it last longer? Do you wear your best clothes every day? 
How many of you wear mended clothes? Is it a disgrace? 

14. Topic: Value of Saving. 

What is the good of saving? Can you form the habit 
of saving? Do you want to? What effect will it have on 
your character? 

26. PERSEVERANCE 

1. " If at first you don't succeed, 

Try, try again. 
You will conquer, never fear; 

Try, try again. 
All that other folks can do 
Why with patience may not you ? 
Only keep this rule in view : 

Try, try again." 

2. Read the story of Robert Bruce and the spider. 

3. How can we form a habit of perseverance? Do we 
really want to? What is the good? 

4. When do we need perseverance in school? Which 
lesson requires the most perseverance? 



154 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

5. Which is easier, written work or study? Why? 
Which lesson requires the most study? Shall we have 
nothing but study home work to-night? 

6. In arithmetic, which do you like better, to try to get 
a given answer, or to prove your work and be sure your 
answer is right? 

7. Carefulness and perseverance are twin sisters. Why? 

8. Why do you not believe in the doctrine of getting 
something for nothing? Anything that is really worth 
having must be paid for in some way. 

9. 

Heaven is not reached at a single bound, 
But we climb the ladder by which we rise 
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
And we mount to its summit, round by round. 

— Holland. 

Learn and discuss the above. 

10. What is the difference between the boy or girl who 
gives up easily and one who perseveres? To which class 
do you belong? Prove it. 

11. Success — Failure. What produces the first? 
What is the cause of the second? Why do you feel good 
when you achieve success? 

12. Read in your history the story of the laying of the 
Atlantic Cable. Reproduce it orally and in writing. 

13. Name some character in history who showed great 
perseverance? When? 

14. How did Edison produce his great invention? Can 
you name other inventors that persevered? 

15. How can you increase your ability to do athletic 
feats? Discuss. 

16. How can you get to be a great baseball player? 
A tennis player? Practice is another name for perseverance. 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 155 

17. How can you grow strong in character? When 
you fail, what then? Let us get the "habit" of doing 
things right. What has habit to do with perseverance? 

27. TEMPERANCE 
ADVANCED 

1. Nearly every state has a law requiring that there 
should be taught in public schools the evil effects of 
alcoholic drinks and narcotics. What does this mean? 

2. Some states have prohibition laws, some local option 
laws. Explain both. Name states. 

3. If saloons or hotels are licensed, they pay to the state 
a license fee. How much? Why? 

4. There are in many states anti-saloon leagues. What 
do they believe? Why? 

5. It is said by a learned judge that 80 per cent of all 
crime is caused through drunkenness. How can that 
best be stopped? 

6. Is it wicked or dangerous to drink moderately? 
How is the habit of drunkenness formed? 

7. Why is it that railroad companies and good business 
houses will not employ men that drink? 

8. Why can a man that drinks not be successful in 
business or a profession? Would you like to see me 
drink? 

9. Why is it a sad sight to see a woman drunk? Why 
are there so few women who drink? 

10. When a father drinks much, who has to suffer 
besides himself? Why does he keep on drinking? Does 
he want to stop? 

11. Who gets his money? Why does he lose his job? 
What satisfaction does he get? Is he happy? 



156 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

12. What effect has too much alcohol on the body? 
A man who is intemperate cannot get his life insured. 
Why? 

13. We must not judge harshly those who drink wine 
or beer. In Germany and France moderate drinking at 
table is common and respectable. Something in this 
country makes the use of liquors dangerous to Americans. 

14. Why is smoking bad for a growing boy? Why is 
excessive cigarette smoking especially harmful? In down- 
town offices there are signs forbidding cigarette smoking. 

15. What makes some boys smoke? Do they really 
like it at first? Why are they not brave enough to say 
no? A healthy, sensible boy will wait until he is twenty- 
one years old. Many men do not smoke. 

16. Temperance in Eating. Remember that your 
stomach is your servant to digest your food. How can 
you overwork this servant? What does it do then? 

17. Is candy bad for the stomach? How much? Can 
you control your appetite or does it control you? When 
must you say no? 

18. Temperance in Play. What happens to a boy who 
exercises too violently? They say that a boy who strives 
to outclass everybody before his full growth never amounts 
to much afterwards. Why? 

I 19. "Be Ye Temperate in All Things." 

28. PATRIOTISM 

1. Why are you proud of America? Why should you 
prefer being an American to being a Turk? Can an 
educated person of any nationality be a lady or a gentle- 
man? 

2. Why should we not make fun of foreigners? Why 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 157 

do they love their native country? If people of every 
nation belong to the human family, whose father is God, 
what relation are they to one another? 

3. When you say you love America, what do you mean, 
the land and water, the cities, the states, or what? What 
makes a country? Do you really love the people of 
America? 

4. Why were Washington, Franklin, and Morris patriots? 
How did they show their patriotism? Name some later 
patriots. Why are soldiers honored? 

5. Do you love your city, town, and state? Why? 
People make a city, not houses alone. What do we call 
the people living in a city or state? What makes a good 
citizen? 

6. Why are we getting an education, aside from our 
own selfish good? Why do the city and state pay for 
our education? Why is there a law in many states com- 
pelling children of a certain age to go to school? Show 
that the state educates its children for the welfare of the 
state. 

7. How can we learn to become good citizens? In 
what way will the virtues we learn about make us better 
citizens? What virtues are necessary in a mayor, a gover- 
nor, and a president? In a voter? In a neighbor? 

8. In America we have a government, "By the people, 
of the people, and for the people." What is the meaning 
of that? Who said it? 

9. What is meant by pupil self-government? Give 
two or three reasons why we have it in our school. Do 
you like it? Why? Will you be better citizens for having 
had it? 

10. What does a flag represent? Why do we respect 
the flag? We do not love the flag itself or worship it as 



158 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

an idol, but we love it for what it represents. Why do 
we have a flag salute in our school? 

11. Why do we hang out a flag on Fourth of July, 
Decoration Day, and other national holidays? Why do 
you shoot firecrackers, etc., on Fourth of July? Be honest. 
Which is the finer way to show patriotism, by making a 
noise or by helping afflicted cities, such as San Francisco, 
after the earthquake? 

12. Repeat and write from memory the first stanza of 
"My Country 'tis of Thee." What does it mean? 

13. What is the national hymn of America? How was 
the " Star-Spangled Banner" written? Name the national 
anthems of Germany, France, England. Why do sol- 
diers sing these before going into battle? 

14. Which is greater, to die for one's country, or to live 
for one's country? Name some who have died. Name 
some men who are doing a great deal for the country. 

15. What are you doing for your country? For your 
city? For your school?^ Are you glad to be a good citizen 
of each? Why? 

16. Bring in and discuss patriotic quotations. 

29. PLAY 

1. " All work and no play- 

Makes Jack a dull boy." 

When a child does not play at all, what is the matter? 
What is the good of play? 

2. What is the difference between work and play? 
Why must we not be too serious when we play? What 
traits can we show? Generosity, etc. Why do you like 
to play with a fair, kind companion? 

3. "Play a fair game." What does this mean? When 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 159 

a boy or girl cheats at a game, what becomes of pleasure? 
Why? Why do we say a person shows his character 
when engaged in play? 

4. In Japan men fly kites. Why do you think that 
odd? Is it any more amusing than to see men play ball? 
Why do not big girls play with dolls or big boys play 
horse? Play games suitable to your age. 

5. " All play and no work 

Makes Jack a lazy shirk." 

Discuss. 

6. " Work while you work, 

Play while you play, 

That is the way 

To be cheerful and gay." 

Paraphrase into prose. 

7. Why do you enjoy play better after you have 
worked hard and finished your work? Why do you work 
better after a play spell? 

8. Be temperate in play as in everything. What 
harm comes from too violent play? They say young 
champions^never become old champions. Why? 

9. What is the difference between play and athletics? 
Why should everybody engage in some physical exercise? 
Which form of athletics gives the greatest benefit to all 
the muscles? Debate. 

10. Why does a level-headed boy prefer to be a busi- 
ness man, or a professional man, or a working man rather 
than a professional sport? Should play be our vocation or 
our avocation? Why? 



160 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

30. THOUGHTS 
ADVANCED 

1. "A penny for your thoughts." What does it 
mean? Would you always be willing to tell your thoughts? 
Should you? How can you think so you need not be 
ashamed to have others know your thoughts? 

2. Shut your eyes. Think of something. Open them. 
What did you think about? Had you seen it before, or 
heard it, or read about it? Try to think about something 
that you never either saw, heard, read about, or heard 
about from others. Why is it hard? 

3. Think of something about conduct (ethics). Is it 
original? Where did you first hear or read about it? 
Where do we get our thoughts from? Name some great 
thinkers who have given us good thoughts. 

4. Who planned Brooklyn Bridge? How did he plan 
it? Did he copy it from a book? Where did he have it 
before he put it on paper? All great works were first 
thought out. 

5. When an artist paints a beautiful figure, or a com- 
poser writes some beautiful music, where do they get 
their thoughts from? Everything beautiful first comes as 
a thought. 

6. " Thoughts are things." Who was of greater im- 
portance, Roebling or the men who worked on the Bridge? 
Longfellow, or his printer? Thoughts precede things. 
Think of a man without a mind. 

7. " Thoughts are shown by our expression." How 
do you know when I think kindly of you? When I think 
sorrowfully of you? Angrily of you? Try to think of 
something funny and look angry. Why can't you? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 161 

8. Our habit of thinking makes us homely or hand- 
some,' unpleasant or fine looking. Think of a person who 
is far from good looking butwhose face is somehow attrac- 
tive. 

i 9. What boy in your class is a^favorite, or attracts 
the best friends? Why do you like to look into his face? 
Why cannot a person guilty of wrong thoughts look you 
in the eye? 

10. Did you ever try to make a person look at you by 
looking steadily at him and saying to yourself in thought, 
repeatedly and strongly, "Look at me"? Try it some- 
time, but not too often. " Thoughts are forces." 

11. Let us shut our eyes and send a kind thought to 
some one in the room. Do you feel better? Did some 
one send a kind thought to you? Close your eyes again. 
Think a kind thought about some one who has injured 
you. Do you feel better? Was it hard? 

12. They say when we think helpful, hopeful, joyous, 
loving thoughts, we have better health. Hypochondriacs 
think themselves ill. Why are happy people generally 
healthy? " Laugh and grow fat." 

13. What is meant by constructive and destructive 
thoughts? Make a list of each, for example, 

Love — Hate. Courage — Fear. 

14. Our minds are like reservoirs into which go all our 
thoughts which rise to the surface at some time to be 
turned either into wishes or deeds. What kind of reservoir 
of thoughts have you? Is it full of good thoughts? 

"As a man thinketh, so is he." Solomon said this three 
thousand years ago. 

15. Write a definition of ideals. What ideal have you, 
or what would you like to be? After whom do you pat- 
tern? 



1G2 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

16. Your companions help to make your ideals. What 
kind are yours? What thoughts do they give you? 

17. Books furnish you with useful, or beautiful, or 
noble, or unselfish thoughts, or else with the opposite 
kind. Why do we want the best books in our library? 

18. Pictures furnish us with thoughts. Why are we 
trying to getf the best pictures in our school? Describe a 
picture that gives you good thoughts. 

19. Your thoughts show in your face. How? If a girl 
wants to be beautiful, what thoughts must she have? A 
manly looking boy must have what kind of thoughts? 

20. It is more difficult to control the thoughts than the 
tongue. How can we do it? The real self rules. Say to 
it, none but the best, right thoughts, if you please. That 
will help. 

21. Try every morning to put forth a good thought. 
Every night, too, before you go to sleep, banish all thoughts 
of sin, hatred, worry, or gain, and think many kind, help- 
ful, hopeful thoughts, and you will sleep better. Why? 

31. HABITS 
ADVANCED 

1. When we repeat an act many times, we finally do 
it easily without thinking, and it becomes a habit. Walk- 
ing for a baby is difficult; for us is a habit. Name some 
other daily habitual act. 

2. Is it easy to form a habit? Why? After you get 
started down a hill, how does your speed increase? Why 
was that question asked? 

3. Is it a fine thing to have good habits? Name 
some. What has habit to do with being a gentleman or 
a lady? 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 163 

4. It is a difficult thing to break up a habit. How 
can it be done? Name some qualities that are needed. 

5. How are bad habits formed? Drinking and smok- 
ing? Why are you afraid to form a bad habit? 

6. The best way is not to do the first time a deed 
that leads to bad habits. Why is it better for boys to 
refuse to smoke the first cigarette? Why is it wrong for 
a boy to smoke and not for a man? 

7. Why is it safer for a young man not to touch the 
first glass of wine or beer? We should not judge other 
people who drink. 

8. There are other bad habits which we are ashamed 
to speak of, — beastly habits. Why do healthy boys 
despise such habits? 

9. Gossiping is a habit. Why do boys not gossip? 
Why do a few girls gossip? Do you? What does Shake- 
speare say about, "He who robs me of my good name"? 

10. Have you the habit of generosity? Do you want 
it? Why? 

11. It is said that the first thing a boy or girl must 
learn in high school is the habit of mental study, not 
written work. Have you that habit now? How can you 
form that habit? 

12. Personal Habits. Combing hair, washing face, 
cleaning teeth, and nails. Why form the habit of doing 
this early in the morning? 

13. Habit of being Polite. When should we be- 
gin? Is it easy or hard? Habit of being kind. Easy or 
hard? 

14. If we watch another person, we "catch" their 
habits, as biting nails, squinting, etc. Name others. 
Sometimes these habits are worse to catch than scarlet 
fever, measles, etc. How can we escape these habits? 



164 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

15. Why do boys ancPgirls think little about habits 
they are forming now? Is it wise to be careful? Why? 

16. Why do old people regret habits formed when 
young? Would you like to be in their places? Why? 

17. Hobbies and Habits. What is a hobby? What 
is yours? Are you going to keep it or "ride" it always? 
Some boys' hobbies are making machines. Some girls like 
painting. What may both become? 

18. Habits are formed from single acts. Character is 
said to be a bundle of habits. Thoughts, acts, habits, 
character, life. Discuss this chain. 

Habit is a cable ; we weave a strand of it every day and at last 
we cannot break it. — Horace Mann. 

32. CHARACTER 
REVIEW 

1. To possess good character is to possess all the vir- 
tues; among these are obedience, cheerfulness, courtesy, 
good will, self-control, work, courage, honor, and respect, 
all of which we have talked about this year. 

2. Thoughts are real forces, just as steam, electricity, 
physical strength, are. We are the sum of all our thoughts. 
Every thought that passes through our minds has left its 
effect on our lives. 

3. There are two kinds of thoughts, constructive and 
destructive. Right thoughts build up, wrong thoughts 
tearSdown. Avoid destructive or discordant thoughts, 
such as hate, envy, jealousy, worry, unclean thoughts. 
Have constructive or harmonious thoughts, such as those 
we have cultivated during the past year. 

4. You become what you think strongly and re- 
peatedly about. Think yourself brave and true, and you 



MORALS: TOPIC AND OUTLINE 165 

become such. Pity yourself, and you become miserable. 
Say to yourself: "I am well and strong and happy and 
able to do my work," and behold, you are all these. 

5. Whatever we see, or hear, or read about, we think 
about. What we think, we become. Recall the story of 
the boy knight. What effect have our surroundings and 
our companions and our reading matter upon ourselves? 

6. Our real selves are to live forever. Our body is 
like a servant or a clerk. We want a healthy, able, obedient 
servant or clerk. We must not overwork or abuse our 
bodies or any part, as our eyes, stomachs, or our lungs, 
lest they become poor servants and refuse to do our work, 
yes, and make us suffer, too. 

7. The mind is also given to us to work for us. It is 
like the stomach; whatever goes into it nourishes and 
makes blood for our real selves, just as food makes blood 
and muscle and bone for the body. (Are you giving the 
mind good food or cheap food?) When we think about 
obedience, self-control, kindness, what are we feeding the 
mind? How does it affect our real selves? 

8. We desire to make our minds strong so they can 
do good work for us. We study to make our minds strong. 
It is said that three fourths of our blood is used in our 
brains; we need healthy bodies, therefore, to make blood 
for the brain. 

We cannot think or study well if the brain is not nour- 
ished by good blood. What about cigarettes? 

9. Whatever we read makes food for the brain. (The 
mind uses the brain or gray matter to think with. Do 
not confuse brain and mind.) Why, then, is our principal 
so anxious to have good library books? (Why are silly 
love stories not good food for the girl's mind? Why are 
Indian-killing stories bad for the boy's mind?) If we 



166 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

want strong, bright, clear minds, we should carefully pick 
out the best reading matter. 

10. If we choose poor or little food, our bodies suffer. 
If we choose poor or little food for the mind, it suffers. 
We can choose or say yes or no. (Shall we let others 
choose for us?) Shall we be mere followers? Tell the 
story of the cat making the monkey pull the chestnuts out 
of the fire. 

11. What has honor to do with examinations? Shall 
we say to ourselves, I would rather be honest than be pro- 
moted? Honor and sincerity are the backbone of character. 
Rather be dumb than dishonest, but let us be neither. 

12. Name some Americans of honest, noble character. 
Why was Washington greater than Napoleon? It is not 
what a person says, but what he does, that counts, and to 
be is even greater than to do. 

13. Modesty. Whom do you prefer, a person who 
claims to be better or do better or know more than others, 
or one who never boasts? All truly great man have been 
very modest. As for a lady, it is said modesty is a woman's 
greatest jewel. 

14. Temperance in Eating, Drinking, and in All 
Things. If we overwork a servant or give him poison, 
what sort of work will he do? Our stomach is our serv- 
ant. Which is safer for an American young man, light 
drinking or no drinking? 

15. Perseverance. A boy or girl who does not stick 
to a piece of work until it is finished is a weakling. Give 
the story of Robert Bruce and the spider. 

" If at first you don't succeed try, try again." 

16. Review of the Year's Work. 

Have our ethical lessons really helped us? Be honest. 
If not, say so. Whose fault is it? 



II. MANNERS: TOPICS AND OUTLINES 

1. GENERAL 

1. What is the difference between a polite person and 
a rude one? Why do most people prefer the first named? 

2. What is the difference between true politeness and 
"putting on airs"? What has self-respect to do with 
good manners ? What has self-conceit to do with " put- 
ting on airs"? 

3. Why do many boys prefer to be polite ? A few boys 
laugh at good manners. Why? Is their reason a good 
one? ! 

4. It is said that a noble-hearted person can easily be 
polite. Franklin and Lincoln. Tell the story of each. 

5. True politeness comes from a kind heart, and kind- 
ness generally finds a way to express itself. Politeness 
without sincerity is a sham. 

6. Why is an awkward person uncomfortable? How 
can he become polite? Bashfulness may be cured by 
thinking about some one else besides one's self. 

7. What is self-consciousness? (See dictionary.) What 
has it to do with selfishness? How can we get rid of it? 
It is well to remember that people are not very much 
concerned about us. 

8. Some people are too lazy to learn good manners ; 
some are too ignorant, but do not know it ; some have a 

167 



168 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

false idea of wanting to be blunt and outspoken. Why- 
do you not want to be one of these? 

9. How can we learn forms of good manners? Will a 
book on good manners help us? Watch others whom 
you know to be polite. 

2. AT HOME 

1. Every time we do anything rude, or unmannerly 
we reflect upon our home training. Why are you anxious 
to have others think your parents are polite? 

2. Obedience and respect to parents come first in good 
manners at home. Courtesy and kindness to brothers 
and sisters come next. What next? 

3. A twelve-year-old boy met his mother on the street 
and tipped his hat to her. Why? What did the boys 
think? What did the girls say? He also took her parcel 
and carried it for her. 

4. A sister sewed a button on her brother's coat. Why? 
What did he say and show? A big boy in our school 
always looked out for his weak-minded little sister. Why? 

5. Why do servants appreciate courtesy? Some serv- 
ants will not stay in homes with ill-mannered children. 
Why? Who suffer? 

6. When your mother has a caller and you happen to 
come into the room, what must you do? If your mother 
is not at home and you go to the door, what must you do? 

7. How many times does your mother call you for 
breakfast? Why is it wrong to keep others waiting for 
anything? 

8. Besides being unkind to your mother, by not put- 
ting clothes and other things in their places, you are im- 
polite. Which is the greater wrong, and why? 



MANNERS: TOPICS AND OUTLINES 169 
3. AT TABLE 

1. Why must a hungry boy wait to sit down quietly 
until his mother or the hostess takes her seat? If forced 
to leave the table before others, what should you say? 
What about elbows on the table, and feet twisted around 
the chair? 

2. If your grandparents eat with a knife instead of a 
fork, why laugh at them? How shall we take our soup, 
from the point or from the side of the spoon? For what 
use are the fork, the knife, and the spoon intended? 

3. It is said we must never call a girl pretty, or a boy 
a gentleman, until we see him or her eat. Discuss. 

4. How should we use a napkin? Where place it? 
What about eating slowly and not smacking? What 
about reaching over or in front of people? Why should 
we not reach after bread with a fork? What should we 
say? 

5. What do you think of the boy who picks out the 
best and biggest piece of cake? Why is it selfish? What 
about picking bones? 

6. What kind of conversation should we carry on at 
table? Name five things we should avoid talking about. 
Do not all talk at once. What tone of voice should be 
used? 

7. If mamma has made something specially nice for us, 
why should we compliment her upon it? Otherwise it is 
bad form to talk about what is being eaten. Why? 

4. AT SCHOOL 

1. Why can we not do the same in school as at home? 
Regard for the rights of others, respect for others as well 
as for ourselves, unselfishness, should govern us in school. 



170 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Is whispering wicked in itself? Why generally wrong in 
school? 

2. Why is it not polite to raise hands while another is 
reciting? Why call your teacher by name, and not say 
"Teacher"? 

3. When a pupil makes a mistake, why laugh? Repeat 
the golden rule. Why does an honorable girl or boy re- 
fuse to tell an answer to another? 

4. When is tattling wrong? When is it right? 

5. To meddle with another's property is not only im- 
polite, but what else? Why impolite to have an untidy 
desk? 

6. If absent or late, why bring an excuse? Suppose a 
teacher has made a mistake, what is the polite way of 
explaining it to him or her? When should it be done? 
If you make a mistake, how should you make it right? 

7. Why should we not make fun of a poorly dressed 
girl or an awkward boy? How can you show kindness, 
which is politeness, too, in school? 

8. Dr. Emerson E. White says the school virtues are 
regularity, punctuality, neatness, accuracy, silence, indus- 
try, and obedience. Discuss. 

5. AT CHURCH 

1. Why is a church different from other places, such 
as home or school? Reverence and good maimers are 
necessary in church. 

2. To come in late or noisily is wrong. Why? Why 
do polite people not look around in church, or turn to see 
people come in? 

3. No well-bred person would talk, or laugh, or yawn, 
or lounge, in church. Discuss. 



MANNERS: TOPICS AND OUTLINES 171 

4. Why should we try to take part in the service, rise, 
kneel, sing, respond, etc.? Suppose the form of worship 
is unfamiliar, what should we do? 

6. IN CONVERSATION 

1. Name six occasions when a person should say "Ex- 
cuse me," or " Pardon me," "Beg your pardon"? 

2. When shall we say "Thank you"? Why not say 
it at table when we are served? Why say, "No, I thank 
you"? 

3. Why should we say "If you please," or "Please," 
or "Kindly," when asking for something? Practice in 
the class, now. 

4. Children used to say "Yes ma'am, No sir," etc. 
What do they say now? Ask questions of each other, 
requiring "Yes" or "No" for an answer. 

5. When coming into the class room/why be ready to 
return politely, your teacher's "Good morning"? Why 
before leaving always say, "Good afternoon"? Do you 
always say "Good night" before retiring? 

6. Is it wicked to use slang? Why is it considered 
common or vulgar, especially for girls and teachers? 
Where do you hear the most slang? What healthy, 
happy boys do you know who do not use slang? 

7. Why do bad manners and poor English ("bad 
grammar") often go together? Why do poorly educated 
people often show a want of politeness? We must not 
laugh at them. Etiquette in company. 

8. Always introduce a boy to a girl, a gentleman to a 
lady, a young person to an elderly person. What may 
you say? Introduce each other now. 

9. Tip hats to ladies. Why? What kind of knight- 



172 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

hood is this? Tip hats to elderly people and men of 
high standing or honorable position. Why? 

10. When should we shake hands? How? Do not 
give a reluctant or lifeless hand shake. How do people of 
other nations greet one another? 

11. Why is it not polite simply to say yes or no in 
conversation in company? Why should we not boast, or 
"talk shop," or talk about ourselves, or do all the talking? 
What about chewing gum? 

12. Never pass in front of a person. Why? If com- 
pelled to do so, what must we say? Allow ladies to pre- 
cede going down stairs. Precede them when going up- 
stairs. 

13. Why not sit down while ladies or old people are 
standing? Do not cross your knees while sitting. Why? 
How about lounging? If we keep our hands and feet 
still, what does it show? 



III. QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 

1, OBEDIENCE 

So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 

So near is God to man, 
When Duty whispers low, "Thou must," 

The Youth replies, "I can." 

A power above, and nature round about us, and will in man to 

lead him to obey; 
Wherever life exists, wherever choiceful purpose, the primal law of 

God, obedience holds sway. 

Laws were formed for the welfare of citizens and the 
security of states. — Cicero. 

If you're told to do a thing, 

And mean to do it really, 
Never let it be by halves; 

Do it fully, freely. 

— Phcebe Cary. 

Obedience is the grandest thing in the world to begin 
with. 

Children, obey your parents. 

Laws are not masters, but servants; and he rules them 
who obeys them. — Henry Ward Beecher. 

Every one hath enough to do to govern himself well. 

No man doth safely rule but he that hath learned gladly 
to obey. — Thomas a Kempis. 

Obedience is the key to every door. 

— George Macdonald. 

173 



174 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Obedience is the key to freedom. No one is worthy to 
rule who cannot master himself. 

He who would command must first learn to obey. 

All obedience worth the name must be prompt and 
willing. 

True obedience neither procrastinates nor questions. 

The rules of life are absolute, and we must obey them. 

He who obeys with modesty may some day be worthy 

to command. 

That thou art happy, owe to God. 

That thou continuest such, owe to thyself — 

That is, to thy obedience. 

— Milton. 

Nature is a kind mother, but she exacts obedience from 
her children. 

Where justice reigns, 'tis freedom to obey. 

— James Montgomery. 

Obedience is a foundation for building a fine character. 

Obedience is indeed one of the noblest of mental powers. 

It is royal in the true sense: born of divine right, it 
engenders courage and endurance, to the end that right 
and progress may hold sway. 

The wicked obey for fear, the good for love. 

— Aristotle. 

2. REAL SELF 

A healthy body is good; but a soul in right health, it 
is the thing beyond all others to be prayed for; the most 
blessed thing this earth receives from Heaven. 

— Carlyle. 

To curb the body and keep it under control is the reason- 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 175 

able and prudent course of every man who believes him- 
self to have an immortal part or soul. 

Know thyself as the Lord of the chariot, 
The body as only the car, 
Know also the reason as drivers, 
The horses our organs are. 

There's always a lower, a higher choice, 

And 'tis thine to choose, to shun 

To list to the tempter or hear the voice, 

With cheer in its tone, " Well done." 

Your loss or your gain, and 'tis yours to say, 

Which voice you shall harken from day to day. 

The safe course ? Need I repeat the thought ? 

The higher your choice, 'tis plain, 

The clearer the vision the mind has caught, 

The sweeter the song's refrain. 

And upward mounting the soul's sure flight 

Is bathed in the grander celestial light. 

For what is all that time can give, 
Unless in tune we truly live ? 
And what at end is human gold, 
Unless when life's full story's told, 
Some soul's been purged because of touch 
Of our life's gift. 

The "Ego," or real self, in each and every human body 
needs cultivation by living sometimes in the thought 
world. When my thoughts are growing more beautiful 
and elevating, my real self is developing as the blossoms 
unfold in the spring sunlight and the soft showers. 

My real self no one has ever seen; only the God above, 
who is the reader of all the pages of our minds, has seen 
the vision of my self as I really am. 

Make me so God-like that the I Will within me shall 



176 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

lead me only into paths of righteousness and to the doing 
of the Will Divine. 

3. SELF-CONTROL 

He who can control his tongue, can number his friends 
by the score, but he whose tongue is unbridled can count 
his foes by the legion. 

He who lacks self-control lacks one of life's best agen- 
cies, but he who possesses it holds the key to his own 
happiness and the happiness of others. — Latimer. 

Character exhibits itself in self-control of speech as 
much as in anything else; the wise and forbearant man 
will restrain his desire to say a smart or severe thing at 
the expense of another's feelings, while the fool blurts 
out what he thinks, and will sacrifice his friend rather 
than his joke. "The mouth of a wise man," said Solo- 
mon, "is in his heart; the heart of a fool is in his mouth." 

Our influence is measured and expressed by our ex- 
ample and self-control. We can lead others no farther 
than we go ourselves. 

More than dominion over the earth, more than ascend- 
ing into heaven, more than power over all, is the joy of 
conquering over self. — Phillips Brooks. 

Be watchful ! Guard your heart with care, 

Lest evil passions enter there. 
Be watchful ! Guard your lips lest they 

Speak words that you should never say. 

Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his 
soul from trouble. — Solomon. 

Self-control may well be called the capital of the pillar 
of virtues, for it heads and embodies them all. 

— W. E. Gladstone. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 177 

He who reigns within himself, and rules passions, de- 
sires, and fears, is more than a king. — Milton. 

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; 
and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. 

— Bible. 
To show self-control, to restrain, to wait, to overcome 
present feeling with forethought, is human strength. 

— Robertson. 

He who cannot resist temptation is not a man. He is 
wanting in the highest attributes of humanity. 

— Horace Mann. 

He that avoideth not small faults, by little and little, 
f alleth into greater. — Thomas a Kempis. 

The worst of slaves is he whom passion rules. 

The greatest man is he who chooses the right with in- 
vincible resolution; who resists the sorest temptation 
from within and without; who bears the heaviest burdens 
cheerfully; who is calmest and most fearless under menaces 
and frowns; whose reliance is on truth, on virtue, and on 
God; and is most unfaltering. — W. E. Channing. 

Self-control is only courage under another form. It 
may almost be regarded as the primary essence of char- 
acter. It is in virtue of this quality that Shakespeare 
defines man as a being "looking before and after." It 
forms the chief distinction between man and the mere 
animal; and, indeed, there can be no true manhood with- 
out it. — Williams. 
4. SERVICE 

Somebody did a golden deed ; 
Somebody proved a friend in need. 
Somebody sang a beautiful song ; 
Somebody served the whole day long. 
Was that "Somebody" you? 



178 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

To do something, however small, to make others happier 
and better is the highest ambition, the most elevating 
hope which can inspire a human being. 

— Sm John Lubbock. 

Small service is true service while it lasts; 
Of friends however humble scorn not one : 
The daisy, by the shadow that it casts, 
Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun. 

The best rulers are those who serve well. 

The smallest service is often the truest service/ 

Lend a hand, like the sun that turns night into morning: 
The light that guides storm-driven sailors to land. 
Ah, life were worth living with this for the watchword, 
Look up, out, and forward, and each lend a hand. 

Men and things are only valuable as they are serviceable. 

They also serve who only stand and wait. — Milton. 

None recognized more cheerfully than Washington did 
the duty of willing service; for unless a man can serve 
faithfully he will not rule others wisely. 

Do something for each other, 
Though small the help may be; 

There's comfort oft in little things, 
Far more than others see. 

Human beings owe to each other help to distinguish 
the better from the worse. 

The world generally gives its admiration not to the man 
who does what nobody else ever attempted to do, but to 
the man who does best what multitudes do well. 

— Macaulay. 
When friends are at your hearth side met, 

Sweet service has done its most, 
If you have made each guest forget 
That he himself is not the host. Aldrich 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 179 

Service comes too late when we are in the midst of evils. 

The fame of great men lies not so much in the duties 
they performed as in the services they rendered mankind. 

The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by 
stealth and have it found out by accident. 

— Charles Lamb. 

If a man falls and makes no attempt to regain his feet, 
let him lie; if he falls and struggles to get up, help him to 
rise. — Theodore Roosevelt. 

Be useful where thou livest, that they may both want 
and wish thy pleasing presence still. Find out men's 
wants and will, and meet them there. All worldly joys go 
less to the one joy of doing kindnesses. 

— George Herbert. 

An effort made for the happiness of others lifts us above 
ourselves. 

Be always at leisure to do service; never make business 
an excuse to decline the offices of humanity. 

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden 
of another. — Charles Dickens. 

No matter how hard a person works or how much he 
makes, he will never know what real living is until he has 
helped others. 

5. HELPFULNESS 

Without haste, without rest, lifting Better up to Best. 

— Emerson. ( 
Help thyself and God will help thee. — Herbert.; 

So live to-day, that when to-morrow comes, 
Thou shalt not cloud the sun with vain regret, 

But let thy hand and heart commit those deeds 
Which love for man, and faith in God beget. 

— Osgood Eliot. 



180 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

For none of us li veth to himself. — Bible. 

How much we take, how little we give, 

Yet every life is meant 
To help all lives ; each man should live 

For all men's betterment. 

— Alice Cary. 

People only confer favors generously, who appear, when 
they are once conferred, to remember them no more. 

— Dr. Johnson. 

But remember that you can never help another without, 
by that very act, helping yourself. 

The very thought that we are of assistance to some 
one in life, that some one is better or happier because we 
are carrying out our part of God's great plan, helps, not 
only ourselves on the onward way, but helps others to be 
what the Great Architect intended them to be. 

— Phillips Brooks. 
Be helpful, and the help shall raise some brother to a 

higher plain, and lift him to the heights from whence God 
sheds his radiance to the human soul. 

— Phillips Brooks. 

6. KINDNESS 

She doeth little kindnesses, 

Which most leave undone or despise, 

For naught which sets one's heart at ease, 

And giveth happiness or peace, 

Is low esteemed in her eyes. 

— J. R. Lowell. 

Kindness and consideration for the feelings of others are 
the marks of the true man or woman. — J. T. Doyle. 

Little acts of kindness, 

Little deeds of love, 
Make this earth an Eden, 

Like the Heaven above. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 181 

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever. 

Do noble deeds, not dream them all day long; 
And so make life, death, and that vast forever, 

One grand, sweet song. 

Every deed of kindness which we do, every act of love 
we show, reflects the blessing of its brightness on our own 
soul and leaves us with a feeling of duty well done. 

Kindness consists in always thinking of others as we do 
of ourselves, and not unnecessarily hurting the feelings of 
the most unlovely of God's creatures. 
[ Do one act of kindness every day, this is better than 
sacrifice. 

7. GOOD WILL 

Do not think of your faults, still less of other's faults; 
in every person who comes near you, look for what is good 
and strong; honor it, rejoice in it, and as you can try to 
imitate it, and your faults will drop off like dead leaves, 
when the time comes. 

Instead of trying to pick out the worst things that can 
be said about other people, let us select some of their 
good traits. It may come hard at first, but it will be 
easier and easier as we improve by practice. 

If wisdom's ways you'd wisely seek, 

Five things observe with care; 
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak, 

And how, and when, and where. 

"But I," cried the fresh-hearted New Year, "I shall 
try to leave men wiser than I find them. I will offer them 
freely whatsoever good gifts Providence permits me to 
distribute, and will help them to be thankful for what 
they have, and humbly hopeful for more." 

— Nathaniel Hawthorne. 



182 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

"Peace on earth," and its accompanying message, 
"Good will toward men," is the beautiful benediction of 
bygone days. 

8. CHARITY 

I have more confidence in the charity which begins in the 
home and diverges into a large humanity, than in the 
world-wide philanthropy which begins at the outside of 
our horizon to converge into egotism. 

— Mks. Jameson. 

To complain that life has no joys while there is a single 
creature whom we can relieve by our bounty, assist by our 
counsels, or enliven by our presence, is to lament the loss 
of that which we possess, and is just as irrational as to 
die of thirst with the cup in our hands. 

— FlTZOSBORNE. 

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know 
what thy right hand doeth. — Bible, 

fr You must have a genius for charity as well as for any- 
thing else. — Thoreau. 

It is an old saying, that charity begins at home; but this 
is no reason it should not go abroad. — Cumberland. 

As the purse is emptied the heart is filled. 

— Victor Hugo. 
Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, 

pressed down, shaken together, and running over. 

— Bible. 
As you measure unto others they will measure back to 
you. 

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, 
and without hesitation; for only so is the gift acceptable. 

— Seneca. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 183 

Charity itself fulfills the law, 

And who can sever love from charity ? 

— Shakespeare. 

The charity Which gives freely, with no thought of any 
gain to one's self in return, is the only true charity and 
the only kind which really sheds a reflex blessing on the 
giver. — Black. 

Give of thyself the best that is in you to the world. 
This is within the province of every one and indeed no 
one is so humble or so poor but what he can better the 
world by giving his best to humanity. 

When giving of this world's goods to aid some one who 
is not so well off as yourself, always remember to send 
some love and loving thought with the charity, and your 
own life will grow sweeter thereby. — Phillips Brooks. 

When an opportunity to do some charitable deed comes, 
do not sit too long thinking whether the people are worthy, 
but do what you can "In His name," and all will be well. 

— Phillips Brooks. 

Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, in all 
the places you can, to all the people you can. This is 
true charity. — Phillips Brooks. 

9. HOME AND PARENTS 

You must not look for a maiden fair, 
With starry eyes and golden hair; 
Her hair may be threaded with silver gray, 
But one glance of her eyes drives care away, 
And the touch of her hand is so soft and light 
When it smoothes out a place for your head at night, 
If you know of some one just like this, 
My household fairy you cannot miss — 
It's " Mother." 



184 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

The boys that are wanted are loving boys, 
Fond of home and father and mother, 
Counting the old-fashioned household joys 
Dearer and sweeter than any other. 

The girls that are wanted are home girls, 
Girls that are mother's right hand, 
That fathers and brothers can trust too, 
And the little ones understand. 

In the home, in the social circle, at work, at play, let 
us always and only reflect credit on those who from in- 
fancy have done their best to train us in the right way — 
father and mother. 

Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be 
long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 

— Bible. 

10. CLEANLINESS 

Cleanliness is next to Godliness. 

Live with men as if God saw you; speak to God as if 
men heard you. 

Blessed are the pure in heart. — Bible. 

Unto the pure all things are pure. — Bible. 

Keep thyself pure in thought and outer life, and thy 
soul shall reflect the whiteness, as the lake the silvery 
whiteness of the moon. 

The impress that a man makes on mankind depends upon 
what he believes, — upon what he loves, — and men of pure 
thoughts shine like stars, and make others purer by being 
purely shone upon. 

Purity is to the mind what cleanliness is to the body. 
Self-respect, the soul's health, and our associations demand 
it. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 185 

In a certain degree, impure thoughts are always revealed 
in the face, and those who have insight and experience 
can immediately see all the loathsomeness of such a mind. 
The one who has governed his thoughts has mastered his 
passions, and has put his body under him. Cleanliness 
of soul is as important as is cleanliness of the body. 

If we desire healthy bodies, we must keep them physically 
clean. So, too, if you would be truly righteous, you must 
cultivate that cleanliness which is not of the body, but of 
the soul. 

Cleanliness is to the body what purity is to the mind. 
. . . minister to a mind diseased, 

Cleanse the stuff' d bosom of that perilous stuff 
Which weighs upon the heart. 

— Shakespeaeb. 

Pure air, pure water, sunlight, and personal cleanliness 
are nature's disinfectants. 

Nearly four hundred years ago, one evening at a play 
in one of the courts of Europe, a boy was covered over with 
gilt so as to look like a cherub. In a few hours he became 
very ill, and died before morning, in spite of all the doctors 
could do for him. He was poisoned because the perspira- 
tion was kept in his body instead of being allowed to escape 
freely as nature demands. 

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

— Bible. 

Even from the body's purity the mind receives a secret, 
sympathetic aid. —Thompson. 

The face is the mirror of the soul. 
Cleanliness of the body was ever esteemed to proceed 
from a due reverence to God. — Bacon. 



186 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 
11. AMIABILITY 

Be amiable. Give this lonesome world a smile. 
We stay, at longest, but a little while. 
Hasten we must or we shall lose the chance 
To give the gentle word, the kindly glance. 
Be sweet and tender, that is doing good ; 
; Tis doing what no other good deed could. 

Kind hearts are more than coronets, 
And simple faith than Norman blood. 

— Tennyson. 

We have careful thoughts for the stranger, 

And smiles for the sometimes guest; 

But oft for our own 

The bitter tone, 

Though we love our own the best. 

— Margaret E. Sangster. 

The inner side of every cloud 

Is bright and shining; 
And so I turn my clouds about, 
And always wear them inside out, 

To show the cheerful lining. 

What profits it to repeat 
How time is shifting underneath our feet; 
Unborn to-morrow, and dead yesterday — ■ 
Why fret about them, if to-day be sweet ? 

12. HONOR 

The soul asks honor, and not fame; to be upright, not 
to be successful; to be good, not prosperous; to be essen- 
tially, not outwardly, respectable. 

— Robert Louis Stevenson. 

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, 
And every tongue brings in a several tale, 
And every tale condemns me for a villain. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 187 

Conscience is the voice of God in the soul of man. If 
we listen to it, it will speak clearer and clearer, and always 
guide us right. But if we turn a deaf ear to it, it will 
fade out little by little and leave us all in the dark, without 
a guide. Our lives depend upon the heeding of this little 
voice. 

Honor and shame from no condition rise, 
Act well your part, there all the honor lies. 

— Pope. 

What is honor? 'Tis the finest sense of justice which 
the human mind can frame. — Wordsworth. 

Where honor ceaseth, there knowledge decreaseth. 

— Shakespeare. 

A man who breaks his word, bids others to be false to him. 

Honor is purchased by the deeds we do. 

Appeal to a boy's honor, and you touch the tenderest 
spot in his nature. — Wendell Phillips. 

I will be honest. Why ? Because 'twill pay ? 
No, just because 'tis God's and Nature's way. 

An honest man's the noblest work of God. 
Honesty, the greatest of virtues, because it includes self- 
examination, self-respect, self-direction. 
Honesty will bring its own reward. 

To thine own self be true ; 

And it must follow as the night the day, 

Thou can'st not then be false to any man. 

— Shakespeare. 

From our ancestors come our names, but from our 
honesty our honor. 

Dare to be true, nothing can need a lie. 

A fault which needs it most grows twice thereby. 

The basis of high thinking is perfect honesty. 



188 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Train a boy to be brave and to speak the truth, and you 
have done the best you can for him. The rest he must do 
for himself. 

The honest penny is better than the stolen dollar. 

Honesty and truth need no loud protestation. 

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, 
When first we practice to deceive. 

He who has light within his own clean breast, 
May sit in the center and enjoy bright day, 
But he who hides a dark soul and foul thoughts 
Benighted walks under the noonday sun, 
Himself is his own dungeon. 

Truth is tough. It will not break like a bubble at a 
touch. Nay, you may kick it about all day, like a football ; 
it will be round and full at evening, 
j Truth is the highest thing that man may keep. 
r Honesty is that which compels us to look the world 
in the face and when wrong acknowledge it, when we see 
and know the right to do it, and always, under all cir- 
cumstances, to keep a good conscience, and be honest with 
ourselves. 

Give me, kind heaven, a private station, 

A mind serene for contemplation; 
Title and profit I resign, 

The post of Honor shall be mine. 

— Gay. 

How happy is he born and taught, 
That serveth not another's will ; 
Whose armor is his honest thought, 
And simple truth his utmost skill. 

— Sir H. Wotton. 

Worth, courage, honor, these indeed 
Your sustenance and birthright are. 

— E. C. Stedman. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 1S9 

Pursue your studies in the way your conscience calls 
honest. 

Do the things you do do 
Right, and right away, 
Careful of the doings you 
Are doing every day. 
All that's worth the doing 
Is done for love, forsooth, 
Done for Honor's wooing, 
Done for justice, truth. 

If honor be the word on the escutcheon of your heart, 
you will find yourself numbered with the noblest, truest, 
and worthiest of the sons of earth. — Horace Mann. 

13. COURAGE 

The man or the woman who has the courage of his or 
her convictions is the one to whom the world takes off 
its hat! — Charles E. Hughes. 

To do right at all times, in all places, and under all 
circumstances, may take courage, but it pays, for the world 
is always looking for moral heroes to fill its high places. 

— Theodore Roosevelt. 

Be not ashamed always the truth to tell, 

Nor fear — a coward slave — to act thy part ; 

The secret of life's joy is life lived well ; 

Trust, trust begets ; and strength of heart wins heart. 

Courage is that within us which impels us always to 
do the right, and follow the dictates of a sensitive con- 
science, even when it means being misunderstood and 
perhaps censured. — Drake. 

A great deal of talent is lost in the world for the want 



190 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

of a little courage. The fact is, that to do anything in 
the world worth doing, we must not stand shivering and 
thinking of the cold, and the danger, but jump in and 
scramble through as well as we can. 

— Sydney Smith. 

The courage of self-sacrifice is the best kind of bravery. 
It is needed not only in large but also in small things; 
things of everyday occurrence. 

A good cause makes a stout heart and a strong arm. 

Daring and potent courage, especially that of moral 
strength, is true chivalry. — Bennett. 

In this age of commercialism, when religious and moral 
scruples are swept aside in the mad rush for gain, let us 
not lack courage to do what is both honorable and just. 

They can conquer who believe they can. He has not 
learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount 
a fear. — Emerson. 

In olden times courage to fight well in battle was most 
important. But, now, courage to live honestly and help- 
fully is more important. 

I know not where to-morrow's paths may wend, 
Nor what the future holds ; but this I know, 
Whichever way my feet are forced to go, 
I shall be given courage to the end. 

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 

Dare to do right, dare to be true ! 
For you have a work no other can do ! 
Do it so bravely, so kindty, so well, 
Angels will hasten the story to tell. 

Cowards die many times before their death. 
The valiant never taste of death but once. 

— Shakespeare. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 191 

In the world's broad field of battle, 

In the bivouac of life. 
Be not like dumb, driven cattle ! 

Be a hero in the strife. 

— Longfellow. 

True courage standeth not to waver, 

Or reason thus, or so ; 
But in a firm and quiet manner 

Doth say the timely "No." 



14. WORK 

Work is given to man not only because the world needs 
it, but because the workman needs it. Work makes men. 
The genius of success is still the genius of labor. 

— Garfield. 

Life's master word is Work. With this magic word in 
one's heart all things are possible. It is the touchstone 
of progress and the key to success. — White. 

Hope for the best and constantly work for it. Whether 
it be for life or death, do your own work well. — Ruskin. 

A man may hide himself from you in every way, but he 
cannot in his work. — Ruskin. 

We are always spending our time well when we are 
devoting ourselves to work which daily compels us to 
make progress in our development. — Goethe. 

I am glad a task to me is given, 

To labor day by day; 
For it brings me health, and strength, and hope, 

And I cheerfully learn to say, 
"Head you may think, Heart you may feel, 

But hand you should work alway." 

— L. M. Alcott. 



192 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

All true Work is sacred; in all true Work, were it but 
true hand labor, there is something of divineness. 

— Carlyle. 

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry makes all 
things easy; and he that riseth late must trot all day, 
and shall scarce overtake his business at night, while 
laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him. 

— Franklin. 

Blest work ! if ever thou wert curse of God, 
What must his blessing be I 

— J. B. Selkirk. 

Labor may be a burden and a chastisement, but it is 
also an honor and a glory. Without it nothing can be 
accomplished. All that is great in man comes through 
work, and civilization is its product. Were labor abolished, 
the race of Adam were at once stricken by moral death. 

— Smiles. 

Pull away cheerily, work with a will ! 

Day after day every task should be done. 

Idleness bringeth us trouble and ill ; 

Work with the heart and work with the brain, 

Work with the hands and work with the will ; 

Step after step we shall reach the high plain, 

Then pull away cheerily, work with a will. 

— Thompson. 

God hath set labor and rest, as day and night, to men 
successive. — Milton. 

Nothing is denied to well-directed labor; nothing is 
ever to be attained without it. — Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
! - Toil, I repeat — toil, either of the brain, of the heart, 
or of the hand, is the only true manhood, the only true 
nobility! — Orville Dewey. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 193 

We need the boy who's not afraid 
To do his share of work, 
Who never is by toil dismayed, 
And never tries to shirk. 

No work is worth doing badly, and he who puts his best 
into every task will outstrip the man who waits for a great 
opportunity. — T. Chamberlain. 

To speak or to write, Nature did not peremptorily order 
thee; but to work she did. — Carlyle. 

Work is God's greatest gift to man, and the angel of 
success. 

Do not be the drone in the hive. Work hard, patiently, 
and well. All the great men "whose names come echoing 
through the corridors of time," as Longfellow wrote, 
earned their success by constant and faithful application. 

If little labor, little are our gains, 

Man's fortunes are according to his pains. 

— Herrick. 
Make believe your work is play, 

And strive with all your might; 
The weariness will fly away, 
And work become delight. 

Avoid all that is unworthy of an honorable mind. 
Gradually see what kind of work you can do; for it is the 
first of all problems for a man to find out what kind of 
work he is to do in this universe. — Carlyle. 

Work, and the health to do it, are the greatest blessings 
God gives to mankind. — Pearley. 

No man is born into the world whose work 
Is not born with him ; there is always work, 
And tools to work withal, for those who will. 

— Lowell. 



194 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

There is always hope in a man that actually and 
earnestly works; in idleness alone is there perpetual 
despair. 

Pleasure is a jewel which will only retain its luster in a 
setting of work. — Lecky. 

15. PUNCTUALITY 

Punctuality and politeness make the gentleman. 

Better three hours too soon than one minute too late. 

The late comer spoils the play. 

Punctuality begets confidence and respect. 

Punctuality is the stern virtue of a business man. 

Never defer till to-morrow what you can do to-day. 

A lack of punctuality, of promptness in keeping ap- 
pointments, is the most troublesome fault, yet one of the 
very commonest, so common that an often used proverb 
declares that " the punctual man always has to wait." 

In the business world many a reputation has been ruined 
by a failure to keep engagements or to meet obligations 
on time. 

I give it as my deliberate and solemn conviction that 
the individual who is habitually tardy in meeting an ap- 
pointment will never be respected or successful in life. , 

— Fisk. j 

It is no use running; to set out in good time is the main. 

I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, 
and it has made a man of me. — Lord Nelson. , 

Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an 
act of clear dishonesty. You may as well steal a man's 
money as his valuable time. — Horace Mann. 

I could never think well of a man's intellectual or moral 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 195 

character if he was habitually unfaithful to his appoint- 
ments. — Emmons. 

If you make an appointment yourself, let nothing but 
the most urgent necessity cause you to break it. If the 
appointment is made for you by some one else, show that 
one the courtesy of meeting the appointment promptly. 

Procrastination is the thief of time : 
Year after year it steals till all are fled, 
And to the mercies of a moment leaves 
The vast concerns of an eternal scene. 

— Young. 

If you have any duty which must be done, and it seems 
disagreeable, do it promptly and have it over. 

— Thomas Jefferson. 

Whenever a task is set for you, 

Don't idly sit and view it, 
Nor be content to wish it done, 

Begin at once to do it. 

Never leave that till to-morrow which you can do to-day. 

Are you in earnest ? 

Seize this very minute ! 
What you can do, or think, 

You can begin it. 

— Goethe. 

Time is always on the wing, 

You can never stop its flight, 
Then do at once your little task, 

Happier you will be at night. 

Do at once the thing which is set before you which you 
do not feel like doing. No task ever grows less irksome 
by sitting down and delaying its accomplishment. What 
you must do, do at once and have it done, then sit down 
and enjoy the fact of its completion. 



196 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Be sure you are right, then go ahead. Don't procrasti- 
nate, but looking toward the goal, finish the work as quickly 
and well as possible. 

16. PERSEVERANCE 

If a boy should get discouraged 

At lessons or at work, 
And say, " There's no use trying," 

And all hard tasks should shirk, 
And keep on shirking, shirking, 

Till the boy became a man, 
I wonder what the world would do, 

To carry out its plan ? 

The coward in the conflict 

Gives up at first defeat; 
If once repulsed, his courage 

Lies shattered at his feet. 
The brave heart wins the battle, 

Because through thick and thin, 
He'll not give up as conquered, 

He fights, and fights to win. 

So, Boys, don't get discouraged, 

Because at first you fail ; 
If you but keep on trying, 

At last you will avail. 
Be stubborn against failure, 

Try, try, and try again, 
The boys who keep on trying 

Have made the world's best men. 

— Anonymous. 

No longer let me shun my part, 

Amid the busy scenes of life 

But with a warm and generous heart, 

Press onward in the glorious strife. 

— Bryant. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 197 

The heights by great men reached and kept 
Were not attained by sudden flight; 

But they, while their companions slept, 
Were toiling upward through the night. 

— Longfellow. 
If little labor, little are our gains ; 

Man's fortunes are according to his pains. 

— Herrick. 

Never be discouraged by trifles. If a spider breaks his 
thread twenty times, he will mend it as many. Persever- 
ance and patience will accomplish wonders. 

How poor are they that have not patience. 
What wound did ever heal but by degrees ! 

— Shakespeare. 
Be not fitful, but stick to your work, 

Never let it be said that you are a shirk. 
But when any task is fairly begun, 
Keep pegging away until it is done. 

Don't be discouraged, keep on trying, and you will get your wish 
For sometimes the very shortest line brings up the largest fish. 

— Gentsch. 

Do not let mistakes discourage you. There is precious 
instruction to be got by finding that we are wrong. Let a 
man try faithfully, manfully, to do right, and he will grow 
daily more and more right. — Carlyle. 

The law of worthy life is fundamentally the law of strife. 
It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy 
and resolute courage, that we move on to better things. 

— Theodore Roosevelt. 

You will find that luck 

Is only pluck 
To try things over and over. 
Patience and skill, 
Courage and will 

Are the four leaves of Luck's clover. 



198 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

The tendency to persevere, to persist in spite of hin- 
drances, discouragements, and impossibilities, — it is this 
that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the 
weak. — Carlyle. 

Everything comes to him who waits — and hustles while 
he waits. 

The French have a saying that " Patience and length of 
time accomplish more than force or anger." Perseverance 
in the pursuance of any duty or desire reaches the goal 
ultimately. — Brooks. 

17. TEMPERANCE 

Temperance is a kind of power to hold appetite at arm's 
length, as it were; to handle it or put it away according to 
one's will. It is like the regulator of the clock, which pre- 
vents it from going too fast or too slow. 

Intemperance destroys self-respect, the soul's health; 
to deny one's self is good practice in self-restraint. And 
also to deny one's self overindulgence is the groundwork 
of all habits of temperate living. 

Temperance and labor are the two best physicians of man. 

— Rousseau. 

Moderation is the silken skein running through the pearl 
chain of all virtues. — Dr. Fuller. 

Temperance is a bridle of gold: he who uses it aright is 
more like a god than a man. — Richard Burton. 

Temperance keeps the senses clear and unembarrassed, 
and makes them seize the object with more keenness and 
satisfaction. It appears with life in the face, and decorum 
in the person; it gives you the command of your head, 
secures your health, and preserves you in a condition for 
business. — J. Collier. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 199 

Abstaining so as to enjoy is the very perfection of all 
reason. — Epicurus. 

Temperance puts coals on the fire, meal in the barrel, 
money in the purse, credit in the community, contentment 
in the house, clothes on the children, vigor in the body, 
and intelligence in the whole constitution. 

— Benjamin Franklin. 

Take temperance to thy breast, 

While yet is the hour of choosing; 

For better than fortune's best 

Is mastery in the using. 

— Louise Guiney. 

The welfare of the state demands that every one shall 
practice temperance, as the root and groundwork of an 
orderly life. Temperance in all things, not only in personal 
habits, but in thought and action. 

Temperance in all things is the only safe line in which to 
keep. To be temperate in speech, in thought, in actions, in 
eating, in all enjoyments; to have, in a word, absolute 
control over all one's appetites, is real temperance. 

A temperate person is master of all his appetites. The 
intemperate person is ruled by his appetite, and thus 
becomes a slave. At each moment of a man's life he is 
either a king or a slave. As he surrenders to a wrong appe- 
tite, to any human weakness, to any failure, he is a slave. 
As he day by day crushes out human weakness, he re-creates 
a new self from the sin and folly of the past — he is a king. 

18. PATRIOTISM 

He serves his party best, who serves the country best. 

— R. B. Hayes. 

This is a maxim which I have received by hereditary 
tradition not only from my father, but also from my grand- 



200 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

father and his ancestors, that after what I owe to God, 
nothing should be more dear or more sacred than the love 
and respect I owe to my own country. 

-De Thou. 

Be just and fear not; 
Let all the ends thou aimst at, be thy country's, 
Thy God's, and truth's. 

— Shakespeare. 

Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam, 
His first, best country ever is at home. 

— Goldsmith. 

I love my country's good, with a respect moretender f 
more holy and profound, than mine own life. 

— Shakespeare. 
Hail, Columbia ! happy land ! 
Hail, ye heroes ! heaven-born band ! 

Who fought and bled in freedom's cause* 
And when the storm of war was gone, 
Enjoyed the peace your valor won. 
Let independence be our boast, 
Ever mindful what it cost; 
Ever grateful for the prize, 
Let its altar reach the skies ! 

— Joseph Hopkinson. 

Strike — for your altars and your fires; 
Strike — for the green graves of your sires ; 
God, and your native land ! 

— Fitz-Greene Halleck. 

One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, 
One nation evermore. 

— Holmes. 

If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, 
shoot him on the spot. — John A. Dix. 

The noblest motive is the public good. 

— Virgil. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 201 

The union of lakes, the union of lands, 

The union of States none can sever, 
The union of hearts, the union of hands, 

And the flag of our Union forever ! 

— George P. Morris. 

I was born an American; I live an American; I shall die 
an American. — Daniel Webster. 

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, 
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 
Are all with thee, — are all with thee ! 

— Longfellow. 

I am not accustomed to the language of eulogy; I have 
never studied the art of paying compliments to women; 
but I must say that if all that has been said by orators 
and poets, since the creation of the world, in praise of 
woman, was applied to the women of America, it would 
not do them justice for their conduct during this war. 

— Abraham Lincoln. 

How dear is fatherland to all noble hearts! — 

— Voltaire. 

Let our object be our country, our whole country, and 
nothing but our country. And, by the blessing of God, 
may that country itself become a vast and splendid monu- 
ment, not of oppression and terror, but of wisdom, of peace, 
and of liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admira- 
tion forever. — Daniel Webster. 

I never advocated war except as a means of peace. 

— U. S. Grant. 

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called 
the children of God. — Bible. 



202 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

19. THOUGHTS 

Those who labor with their minds govern others. Those 
who labor with their strength are governed by others. 

— Chinese Proverb. 

He that cannot think is a fool; 
He that will not think is a bigot ; 
He that dare not is a slave. 

— Carnegie. 

The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the opera- 
tion of the mind, whether the thoughts be deliberately 
chosen or automatically expressed. At the bidding of un- 
lawful thoughts the body sinks rapidly into disease and 
decay; at the command of glad and beautiful thoughts, 
it becomes clothed with youthfulness and beauty. 

Receive your thoughts as guests, but treat your desires as 
children. — Chinese Proverb. 

Mind is the Master power that molds and makes. 
And man is Mind, and evermore he takes 
The tool of Thought, and shaping what he wills, 
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills : — 
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass : 
Environment is but his looking-glass. 

Friends give flowers 
To mark the hours 

Of changing seasons as they roll. 

Thoughts we give, 
By them we live, 

And thoughts are blossoms of the soul. 

— Benton. 

Thought is the seed of action. — Emerson. 

Self-control requires thought, and thought is the builder 
of character. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 203 

Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the 
heroic makes heroes. 

THOUGHTS ARE THINGS 

I hold it true, that thoughts are things 
Endowed with being, breath, and wings, 
And that we send them forth to fill 
The world with good results or ill. 

That which we call our secret thought 
Speeds to the earth's remotest spot, 
And leaves its blessings or its woes, 
Like tracks behind it as it goes. 

It is God's law, remember it, 

In your still chamber as you sit, 

With thoughts you would not dare have known, 

And yet make comrades, when alone. 

These thoughts have life, and they will fly, 
To leave their impress by and by, 
Like some marsh breeze, whose poisoned breath 
Breathes into homes its fevered death. 

And when you have quite forgot, 
Or, all outgrown some vanished thought, 
Back to your mind, to make its home, 
A dove or raven it will come. 

Then let your secret thoughts be fair, 
They have a vital part and share 
In shaping worlds and molding fate, 
God's system is so intricate. 

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 

20. CHARACTER 

Character, like porcelain, must be painted before it is 
glazed. There can be no change when it is burnt in. 

— Henry Ward Beecher. 



204 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Man is his own star; and the soul that can 
Render an honest and a perfect man, 
Commands all light, all influence, all fate; 
Nothing to him falls early, or too late. 
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, 
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still. 

— Beaumont and Fletcheb. 

We are all hurrying together 
Towards the silence and the night, 
There is nothing worth the seeking, 
But the sun-kissed moral light; 
There is nothing worth the doing, 
But the doing of the right. 

Character is to wear forever. 

Who will wonder or grudge that it cannot be developed 
in a day? | 

Act well your part, and character will lead your life 
into beauty. — Shakespeare. 

Our character is what we really are, while our reputa- 
tion is only what people think we are. 

Dream less of being great; think more of being noble; 
thoughts lead to actions; actions speak, and listening 
minds will hear. 

Build thee more stately mansions, 
O my soul, 

As the swift seasons roll, 
Leave thy low vaulted past, 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from Heaven with a dome more vast 

Till thou at length art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea. 

— O. W. Holmes. 

Characters drawn on dust, that the first breath of wind 
effaces, are altogether as useful as the thoughts of a soul 
that perish in thinking. — Locke. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 205 

Make for thyself a good character. All things thou 
mayest lose, but if thou hast for thy very own, God and a 
good character, thou art rich indeed. Not even death 
can take that from thee. 

A character is like an acrostic, read it backward, forward, 
or across, it still spells the same thing. — Emerson. 

Our character cannot be essentially injured except by our 
own acts. — Anonymous. 

Every good habit formed is a help toward the forming of 
other good habits, and therefore to the rounding out of a 
good and lovely character. 

The habits which we form in our youth lay the founda- 
tion of a strong or weak character. 

Character is a moral order seen through the medium 
of an individual nature — indeed, men of character are 
the conscience of the society to which they belong. 

— Emerson. 
Have a character of such quality that it will uphold the 

principles and motives that control a good life. 

The prosperity of a country depends, not upon the 
abundance of its revenues, nor on the strength of its fortifi- 
cations, nor on the beauty of its public buildings, but it 
consists in the number of its cultivated citizens, in its men 
of education, enlightenment, and character; here are to 
be found its true interest, its chief strength, its real power. 

— Martin Luther. 

Our character is what we will, for what we will we are. 

— Manning. 
A man gets his character from his acts. 

Let your character be an instrument that will mark you 
for good. 



206 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Think naught a trifle, though it small appear, 
Small sands the mountain, moments make the year, 
And trifles, life. 

— Edward Young. 

Unsoiled, unsullied, let its raiment be, 
So, God hath given, in spotless purity. 

A man's character is his capital stock. Let him pre- 
serve it inviolate, if he would maintain his standing among 
men. 

Actions, looks, words, and steps form the alphabet by 
which we spell character. 

Character is formed by a variety of minute circumstances, 
more or less under the regulation and control of the indi- 
vidual. Not a day passes without its discipline, whether 
for good or for evil. There is no act, however trivial, but 
has its train of consequences on our character, as there is no 
hair so small but it casts its shadow. — Smiles. 

Character is like an inward and spiritual grace, of 
which reputation is, or should be, the outward and visible 
sign. 

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it 
foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury. 

Character is formed gradually; as the foundation of a 
house must be strong and steady so must we form good 
habits in our youth. 

In character, in manners, in style, in all things, the 
supreme excellence is simplicity. 

Our characters cannot be essentially injured except by 
our own acts. 

You cannot dream yourself into a character, you must 
forge one. _ — Carter. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 207 

Reputation is what the world gives a man; character is 
what he gives himself. 

The man of character is conscientious. He puts his 
conscience into his work, into his words, and into every 
action. — Smiles. 

That ought to be called a loss that is gained by the sacri- 
fice of character. 

Character is something one can tie up to, while life lasts. 

Sow an act and reap a habit; sow a habit and reap a 
character; sow a character and reap a destiny. 

Character plays a larger part than intellect in the happi- 
ness of life. — Lecky. 

Character building is right habit building. 

The only way you can help your fellow-men is being the 
noblest and best man that it is possible for you to be. 

— Phillips Brooks. 

Riches I owe to fortune, beauty to my parents, but 
character I owe to myself. 

Reputation depends on character; but character needs 
not reputation to make it stronger. 

Good character is like an inward and spiritual grace upon 
whose name we may safely depend. 

Were I so tall to reach the pole, 

Or grasp the ocean by my span, 
I must be measured by my soul, 

The mind's the standard of the man. 

— - Watts. 

A noble, generous character is only to be found in a life 
devoted to the helpfulness of others. 

The best sort of character cannot be formed without 
effort. There needs the exercise of constant self -watchful- 



208 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

ness, self-discipline, and self-control. There may be much 
faltering, stumbling, and temporary defeat; difficulties and 
temptations manifold to be battled with, and overcome; 
but if the spirit be strong and the heart upright, none 
need despair of ultimate success. 

21. MANNERS 

Behave toward every one as if receiving a guest. 

A rule of good manners is to refrain from commenting 
upon yourself. 

In manners quiet is power. 

A loud laugh betokens an empty mind. 

Conspicuous manners are bad manners. 

Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices. 

Good manners are always found under the guidance of 
the will. 

Evil communications corrupt good manners. — Bible. 

Good manners is the art of making those people easy with 
whom we converse. — Swift. 

A man's worth is estimated in this world according to his 
conduct. 

There is certainly something of exquisite kindness and 
thoughtful benevolence in that rarest of gifts — fine 
breeding. 

Good manners are a part of good morals. — Whately. 

Manners are the happy way of doing things; each one 
a stroke of genius or of love, now repeated and hardened 
into usage, they form at last a rich varnish, with which 
the routine of life is washed, and its details adorned. If 
they are superficial, so are the dewdrops which give such a 
depth to the morning meadows. — Emerson. 



QUOTATIONS; MAXIMS; PROVERBS 209 

Good breeding is the result of much good sense, some 
good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others, 
and with a view to obtain the same indulgence from them. 

— Chesterfield. 

A man's own good breeding is the best security against 
other people's ill manners. — Chesterfield. 

By a man's manners is he judged often, when he 
least expects it. We see his gentle breeding and we call 
him a gentleman, or we notice the reverse and we call him 
ill-bred. 

The highest form of good manners is to forget one's 
self, and think constantly what will make another happier 
and more comfortable. 

Do you wish the world were better ? 

Let me tell you what to do. 
Set a watch upon your actions, 

Keep them always straight and true. 
Rid your mind of selfish motives, 

Let your thoughts be clean and high. 
You can make a little Eden, 

Of the sphere you occupy. 



IV. SELECTIONS FROM THE BIBLE 

Obedience. 

Prov. 3:1-7; Ps. 1; Prov. 5 : 7-13; Prov. 4:1-5; Ps. 
40 : 6-8; 1 Sam. 15 : 10-22; 119 : 33-40; Gen. 22 : 1-13; 
Gen. 19 : 17-26; Deut. 6 : 1-15. 

Self-control. 

Prov. 4 : 23-27; Prov. 16 : 32; 21 : 23; 25 : 28. 

Service. 

Matt. 5:6; Matt. 20 : 26-27; Mark 10 : 43-44; Luke 9 : 
24-25; Luke 10 : 25-37; John 13 : 4-17. 

Patriotism. 

Mark 12 : 14-17; Luke 14 : 7-11; Luke 18 : 10-17; 
Matt. 5:2-9; Matt. 18 : 1-7; Matt. 6 : 5-15; Prov. 22 : 
3-5; Prov. 16 : 18-19; 27 : 1-2; Matt. 5:3-5; Mark 9 : 
43-47; Luke 4: 1-13. 

Helpfulness. 

Eccl. 41 : 10-16; Ps. 23; Matt. 7 : 12. 

Kindness. 

Matt. 20 : 14; Luke 18 : 16; Prov. 21 : 13; Matt. 
5:7; Mark 10:13-16. 

Confidence. 

Luke 12 : 22-30; Luke 15 : 3-24; Matt. 10 : 29-31; Matt. 
21 : 22; Matt. 7 : 1-6. 

Gratitude. 

Ps. 136 : 1-26. 

Charity. 

Matt. 6:3-5; Mark 19:41; Luke 14; Matt. 5: 
38-48; Prov. 10 : 12; 15 : 1-2; 3 : 27-29; 25 : 21-22; Eccl. 

210 



SELECTIONS FROM THE BIBLE 211 

11 : 1-6; Ps. 41 : 1-3; Deut. 24 : 19-24; 1 Cor. 13 : 1-13; 
Luke 14; Mark 12 : 41-44; Luke 6 : 27-38. 
Respect. 
To Parents: Prov. 19 : 26, 27; 30 : 17; 6 : 20-23; 20?: 

20. 
To Authority: Eccl. 8 : 1-5. 
To God: Eccl. 12 : 1-7; 13-15; Ex. 20 : 1-7. 
For Sunday: Ex. 20:8-11. 
For Parents: Ex. 20:12. 
For Neighbors: Ex. 20 : 12-17. 
Cleanliness. 
Prov. 20 : 9-12; 22 : 11. 

Cleaning Temple. Ps. 139 : 23-24; Matt. 5 : 8; Deut. 
23:9-11; Matt. 5:33-37. 
Cheerfulness. 

Prov. 15 : 13-17; 17 : 22; Eccl. 2 : 24-26; 5 : 18-20. 
Companions. 

Prov. 2 : 10-15; Luke 15 : 11-24. 
Friendship. 
Prov. 17 : 7; 27 : 9-10. 
Courage. 

Dan. 3 ; Dan. 6 : 10-28; 1 Sam. 7 : 38-54. 
Honor. 

Prov. 16 : 8; Num. 13 : 26-30; Ruth 1 : 16-18; Sam. 
18 : 1-4; Prov. 12 : 19-22. 
Work. 

Matt. 25 : 14-30; Prov. 6 : 6-11; Prov. 10 : 1-5; Prov. 
26 : 12-16; Prov. 22 : 29; Prov. 18 : 9; Prov. 19 : 15; Prov. 
20 : 4; Prov. 30 : 24-28; Matt. 20 : 1-16; Matt. 25 : 1-13; 
Matt. 25 : 14-30. 
Temperance. 

Prov. 20:1; 21:17; 23:1-5, 19-23, 29-32; Is. 5: 
11-12, 22-23. 



212 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Play. 

Prov. 20:29; Gen. 2:1-3. 

Thoughts. 

Luke 6 : 42-45; Matt. 18 : 23-35. 

Character. 

Prov. 22 : 1; Prov. 22 : 6; Eccl. 7:1; Matt. 7 : 24-27; 
Matt. 13 : 3-9; Matt. 13 : 18-23; Matt. 21-29; Matt. 
13 : 1-8; Matt. 13 : 18-23. 

Education or Wisdom. 

Prov. 3 : 13-20; 2 : 1-9; 20 : 15; 8 : 10-36; 10 : 14-17. 



V. HYMNS AND SONGS 

COME, FRIENDS, THE WORLD WANTS MENDING 

Come, friends, the world wants mending, 

Let none sit down and rest, 
But seek to work like heroes, 

And nobly do your best. 

Be kind to those around you, 

To Charity hold fast, 
Let each think first of others, 

And leave himself till last. 

Act unto others as you would 

That they should do to you, 
Much may be done by every one; 

There's work for all to do. 

WORK AND PLAY 

Hand in hand thro' the children's land 
Work and Play their journey took, 

Bright and gay were the eyes of Play, 
Work's face wore a thoughtful look. 

Friends they found 'mid the throng around, 
Some loved Work and some loved Play, 

So each tried from the other's side 
Quietly to steal away. 

But, apart, Work and Play lost heart, 

Neither seemed to be the same, 
Work grew sad and no longer glad, 

Play soon wearied of each game. 
213 



214 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

So once more as they were before, 

Passed they through the children's land, 

Since 'twas best, every one confessed, 
That they should go hand in hand. 

LET IT PASS 
Be not swift to take offense, 

Let it pass. 
Anger is a foe to sense, 

Let it pass. 
Brood not darkly o'er a wrong, 
Which will disappear e'er long, 
Rather sing this cheery song, 

Let it pass. 

If for good you've taken ill, 

Let it pass. 
O be kind and loving still, 

Let it pass. 
Time at last makes all things straight, 
Let us not resent, but wait, 
Keep the inner spirit great, 

Let it pass. 

Bid your anger to depart, 

Let it pass. 
Lay these homely words to heart, 

Let it pass. 
Follow not the angry throng, 
Better to be wronged than wrong, 
Therefore sing the cheery song, 

Let it pass. 

STILL WITH THEE 
Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh, 

When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee ; 
Fairer than morning, lovelier than daylight, 

Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee. 

Alone with Thee, amid the mystic shadows, 
The solemn hush of nature newly born; 

Alone with Thee in breathless adoration, 
In the calm dew and freshness of the morn. 



HYMNS AND SONGS 215 

When sinks the soul, subdued by toil, to slumber, 

Its closing eye looks up to Thee in prayer; 
Sweet the repose beneath Thy wing o'ershading, 

But sweeter still, to wake and find Thee there. 

— Tune : Consolation. 

DARE TO DO RIGHT 

Dare to do right ! Dare to be true ! 

You have a work that no other can do; 
Do it so bravely, so kindly, so well, 

Angels will hasten the story to tell. 

CHORUS 

Dare, dare, dare to do right, 

Dare, dare, dare to be true ! 
Dare, dare to do right, 

Dare to be true. 

LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT 

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, 

Lead thou me on; 
The night is dark, and I am far from home, 

Lead Thou me on. 
Keep thou my feet ; I do not ask to see 
The distant scene, one step enough for me. 

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou 

Shouldst lead me on. 
I loved to choose and see my path, but now 

Lead Thou me on. 
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, 
Pride ruled my will, remember not past years. 

DUTY 

Purer yet and purer 

I would be in mind, 
Dearer yet and dearer, 

Ev'ry duty find; 



216 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

Hoping still and trusting 

God without a fear, 
Patiently believing 

He will make all clear. 

Calmer yet and calmer, 

Trial bear and pain, 
Surer yet and surer, 

Peace at last to gain; 
Suff'ring still and doing, 

To His will resigned, 
And to God subduing, 

Heart and will and mind. 

Higher yet and higher, 

Out of clouds and night, 
Nearer yet and nearer, 

Rising to the light, — 
Light serene and holy, 

Where my soul may rest, 
Purified and lowly, 

Sanctified and blest. 

— Tune: Lyndhurst. 

LEND A HELPING HAND 

Lend a helping hand, my brother, 

To the weary by the way, 
Bow'd beneath life's heavy burdens 

'Mid the toil and heat of day ; 
Pass no comrade by in silence, 

Cheerful words and smiles bestow, 
Let them be as sunshine scattered 

All along their path below. 

CHORUS 

Lend a helping hand, my brother, 

This shall have its own reward, 
And the good you do another 

Is remembered by the Lord. 



HYMNS AND SONGS 217 

Lend a helping hand, my brother, 

Some one needs your help each day, 
Always some one needing comfort 

You will find along the way, 
Always hearts that hunger after 

Words of love, and hope, and cheer — 
Always faces we may brighten, 

With the smile that dries the tear. 



EVENING HYMN 

Now the day is over, 
Night is drawing nigh ; 
Shadows of the evening 
Steal across the sky. 

Through the long night watches, 
May Thine angels spread 
Their white wings above me, 
Watching round my bed. 

When the morning wakens, 
Then may I arise 
Pure, and fresh, and sinless 
In thy holy eyes. 

— Tune: Merral. 



SCHOOL HYMN 

Gracious God, our Heavenly Father, 

Meet and bless our school, we pray; 
As in humble trust we gather, 

Teachers, students, here to-day. 
Ev'ry joy and ev'ry blessing 

From Thy bounteous hand we own; 
May Thy love, our souls possessing, 

Draw us nearer to Thy Throne. 

— Tune: Faber. 



218 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 



GUIDANCE 

Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us. 

O'er the world's tempestuous sea, 
Guard us, guide us, keep us, feed us, 
For we have no help but Thee; 
Yet possessing 
Every blessing, 
If our God our Father be. 

Spirit of our God, descending, 

Fill our hearts with heavenly joy 
Love with every passion blending, 
Pleasure that can never cloy; 
Thus provided, 
Pardoned, guided, 
Nothing can our peace destroy. 

GOD IS LOVE 

Earth, with her ten thousand flowers, 
Air, with all its beams and showers, 

All around, and all above, 

Hath this record, " God is love." 

Sounds among the vales and hills, 
In the woods, and by the rills, 

All these songs, beneath, above, 
Have one burthen, " God is love." 

All the charities that start 

From the fountains of the heart, 

These are voices from above, 

Sweetly whispering, " God is love." 

MIND AND HEART 

Grant us, O Lord, a willing mind 

To learn what Thou would'st have us do. 

And how we may Thy favor find, 
And love and serve each other too. 



HYMNS AND SONGS 219 

Grant us, O Lord, a grateful heart 

To feel Thy kindness and obey; 
Never may we from Thy love depart, 

Never may we leave Thy kindly way. 

— Tune : Beethoven, 

FATHEB, LEAD ME 

Father, lead me day by day, 

Ever in Thine own sweet way, 
Teach me to be pure and true, 

Show me what I ought to do. 

When I'm tempted to do wrong, 

Make me steadfast, wise, and strong; 
And when all alone I stand, 

Shield me with Thy mighty hand. 

When my work seems hard and dry, 

May I press on cheerily ; 
Help me patiently to bear 

Pain and hardship, toil and care. 

— Tune : Battishill. 

AWAKE, MY SOUL 

Awake, my soul, and with the sun 

Thy daily stage of duty run ; 
Shake off dull sloth, and early rise, 

To pay thy morning sacrifice. 

Let all thy converse be sincere, 

Thy conscience as the noonday clear; 
Think how all-seeing God thy ways 

And all thy secret thoughts surveys. 

THESE THINGS SHALL BE 

These things shall be ! A loftier race 

Than e'er the world hath known shall rise, 

With flame of freedom in their souls 
And light of knowledge in their eyes. 



220 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

They shall be gentle, brave, and strong, 
Not to spill human blood, but dare 

All that may plant man's lordship firm 
On earth and fire and sea and air. 

There shall be no more sin nor shame, 
And wrath and wrong shall fettered lie ; 

For man shall be at one with God 
In bonds of firm necessity. 

— Tune : Duke Street. 

god's commands 

How gentle God's commands ! 

How kind His precepts are ! 
Come, cast your burdens on the Lord, 

And trust His constant care. 

Beneath His watchful eye 

His saints securely dwell ! 
That hand which bears all nature up 

Shall guard His children well. 

His goodness stands approved, 

Unchanged from day to day; 
I'll drop my burden at His feet, 

And bear a song away. 

WORK 



— Tune: Dennis. 



Work for the night is coming, 

Work thro' the morning hours ; 
Work while the dew is sparkling, 

Work 'mid springing flowers; 
Work when the day grows brighter, 

Work in the glowing sun : 
Work, for the night is coming, 

When man's work is done. 

Work for the night is coming, 
Work thro' the sunny noon; 

Fill brightest hours with labor, 
Rest comes sure and soon ; 



HYMNS AND SONGS 221 

Give every flying minute 

Something to keep in store : 
Work, for the night is coming, 

When man works no more. 



USEFULNESS 

God, make my life a little light, 

Within the world to glow, 
A little flame that burnetii bright 

Wherever I may go. 

God, make my life a little flower 

That giveth joy to all ; 
Content to bloom in native bower, 

Although the place be small. 

God, make my life a little staff 

Whereon the weak may rest; 
That so, what health and strength I have 

May serve my neighbors best. 



Lord, speak to me, that I may speak 
In living echoes of Thy tone; 

As Thou hast sought, so let me seek, 
Thy erring children lost and lone. 

O lead me, Lord, that I may lead 
Others, and guide the wav'ring feet; 

O feed me, Lord, that I may feed 

Thy hungering ones with manna sweet. 

strengthen me, that while I stand 
Firm on the rock and strong in Thee, 

1 may stretch out a loving hand, 

To wrestlers with the troubled sea. 



222 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 

O fill me with Thy fullness, Lord, 
Till e'en my very heart o'erflows, 

In kindling thought and glowing word, 
Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show. 

Tune : Holley, 

OBEDIENCE 

Father, whate'er of earthly bliss 

Thy sov'reign will denies, 
Accepted at Thy throne of grace, 

Let this petition rise : 

Give me a calm and thankful heart; 

From every murmur free ; 
The blessings of Thy grace Impart 

And make me live to Thee. 

Let the sweet hope that Thou art mine 

My path of life attend ; 
Thy presence through my journey shine, 

And crown my journey's end. 

— Tune : Naomi. 

SUNSHINE 

In a world where sorrow 

Ever will be known, 
Where are found the needy, 

And the sad and lone; 
How much joy and comfort 

You can all bestow, 
If you scatter sunshine 

Everywhere you go. 

CHORUS 

Scatter sunshine all along the way, 
Cheer, and bless, and brighten, 

Every passing day, 
Every passing day. 



HYMNS AND SONGS 223 

Slightest actions often 

Meet the sorest needs, 
For the world wants daily, 

Little kindly deeds; 
Oh, what care and sorrow, 

You may help remove, 
With your song and sunshine, 

With your deed of love. 

When the days are gloomy, 

Sing some happy song, 
Meet the world's repining, 

With a courage strong; 
Go with faith undaunted, 

Thro' the ills of life, 
Scatter smiles and sunshine, 

O'er its toil and strife. 

HOME, SWEET HOME 

'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, 

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home; 
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, 

Which seek thro' the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere. 
Home, home, sweet, sweet home, 
Be it ever so humble, 
There's no place like home. 

FRIENDSHIP 

Blest be the tie that binds 

Our hearts in mutual love; 
The fellowship of kindred minds 

Is like to that above. 

We share our mutual woes, 

Our mutual burdens bear; 
And often for each other flows 

The sympathizing tear. 

— Tune: Dennis. 



224 SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION 



THE DEAREST SPOT 

The dearest spot on earth to me, is home, sweet home ; 

The fairyland I long to see, is home, sweet home, 

There how charmed the sense of hearing, 

There where hearts are so endearing, 

All the world is not so cheering, as home, sweet home. 

The dearest spot on earth to me, is home, sweet home ; 

The fairyland I long to see, is home, sweet home. 

I've taught my heart the way to prize, my home, sweet home; 

I've learn'd to look with longing eyes, 

On home, sweet home; 

There, where vows were truly plighted, 

There, where hearts are so united, 

All the world beside I've slighted, for home, sweet hornet 



GOOD WILL 

Have you had a kindness shown ? 

Pass it on; 
'Twas not giv'n for thee alone, 

Pass it on. 
Let it travel down the years, 
Let it wipe another's tears 
Till in heaven the deed appears — 

Pass it on. 

Did you hear the loving word? 

Pass it on ; 
Like the singing of a bird ? 

Pass it on. 
Let its music live and grow, 
Let it cheer another's woe, 
You have reaped what others sow- 

Pass it on. 



HYMNS AND SONGS 225 



MAIDEN S WISH 

Were I the sun, so high in heaven soaring, 

Only on thee should my friendly rays be pouring. 

Not on the forest green, 

Not on the fields serene, 

But in thy little window; 
There would I all my friendly rays be pouring, 
Were I the sun so high in heaven soaring. 

Were I a birdling high in heaven singing, 

Joy to thy heart should my song be ever bringing. 

Not in the forest green, 

Not in the fields serene, 

But in thy little window ; 
Were I a birdling there would I be singing, 
Joy to thy heart my songs should e'er be bringing. 

— Chopin. 

SCHLTJMMERLIED 

Gently rest, the night stars gleam; 
Soft thy slumber, bright thy dream. 
Fear no harm, for I will keep 
Watch with love while thou'rt asleep, 
Watch with love while thou'rt asleep : 
O, hush thee now in slumber mild, 
While watch I keep; O sleep my child. 

Let but angels whisp'ring tell 
In thy dreaming where they dwell; 
In that land where no decay 
Steals the fiow'rs they love away, 
Steals the fiow'rs they love away. 

Ah, 'twere vain to tell thee now 
Of the love my heart can know; 
Only now for thee I pine, 
All a mother's love is thine, 
All a mother's love is thine, 
O, hush thee now, etc. 



EDITED BY 

FRANK R. RIX 

Director of Music, Public Schools, New York City 



A collection of SONGS THAT 
YOUNG PEOPLE OUGHT TO 
KNOW. 

They may be sung either as unison, 
two, three or four-part songs. 

The selections cover a wide field 
and include PART SONGS. THE 
ART SONGS OF CLASSIC AND 
ROMANTIC COMPOSERS, 
DEVOTIONAL SONGS. 

The correct versions of national 
songs are to be found in this book. 
These versions have been adopted in 
Boston schools, and it is hoped that 
others will join the movement for 
uniformity. 

PRICES 

With Hymnal Supplement - - 60 cents 

Without Supplement - - - - 60 cents 

Special Rates for Introduction 

THE A. S. BARNES COMPANY 
11 East 24th Street :: New York 



Teaching to Read 

By JAMES L. HUGHES 

Inspector of Schools, Toronto, Canada 



READING well means getting thought 
from visible language — rapidly, ac- 
curately, comprehensively. Old 
methods of teaching made the show exer- 
cise of reading aloud the end to be sought. 
These methods failed, in most cases, to 
develop swift, accurate readers. Less than 
one-tenth of our reading is done aloud. 
Why make it the ideal — especially when it 
has been demonstrated that those who have 
first gained efficiency in the thought-getting 
process of silent reading in the end prove 
the best oral readers? 

The author's plans and devices for de- 
veloping this power are as sound as his 
logic. His method is built upon a full 
knowledge of what will help the teacher in 



the most practical way. The suggestions 
offered for gaining the children's interest are 
original and valuable. 

The author develops his subject in the 
following order : Meaning of Learning to 
Read; Logical Order of Steps; General 
Principles; Word Recognition; Phonic 
Method ; Recognition of Visible Language; 
Expression; Reading Matter for Primary 
Classes. 

1 6 mo. Cloth 50 Cents Net 

Postage 4 cents 

MISTAKES IN TEACHING 



HOW TO SECURE AND 
RETAIN ATTENTION 

By JAMES L. HUGHES 

Two books dealing with actual problems of the class- 
room in a practical manner by a resourceful and widely 
experienced teacher. 

16mo. Cloth Each 50 Cents Net 

Postage 4 cents 

THE A. S. BARNES COMPANY 
New York 



OCT 2 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 






